desperatelyseekingfletch - Tumblr blog

desperatelyseekingfletch · 20 days ago

Text

Desperately Seeking Movies: The Life of Chuck (2025)

Welcome back to my movie reviews! Today's a movie that technically, isn't even out yet. My local theater does something every Monday for $5, you get to see an upcoming mystery movie. No hints or anything, truly you walk in blind. So if you plan to see this movie (Which, not to spoil, but i HIGHLY recommend!) there's major spoilers after the general rating and synopsis. also this is a VERY long post because i feel like its too beautiful to not dissect, and unfortunately for you guys who read the spoiler, the details are extremely important, and i'll be honest, it still isn't doing the movie justice.

The Life of Chuck is based off a novella Stephen King wrote, with the same title, about Charles "Chuck" Krantz's life in reverse chronological order. The synopsis really doesn't aid anything about this movie, and how endearingly and existentially odd it is though.

The Rating

Honestly, i always find myself rating movies more positively because I just enjoy movies and even if the movie itself wasn't great, i usually love the sets, or costumes and I'm never truly a hater. And i think i just have odd taste (i love the twilight movies, proudly. not as a romance or anything though. its comedy.) but this is EASY a 5/5. Its odd, it makes you question existence, it makes you THINK. It confuses you, but wraps it all up in the end with a pretty boy, and almost made me cry. I rarely cry, so anything that moves me to cry automatically wins a 5/5. I truly cannot recommend a movie more. Also the casting is stunning, and like a true original Tumblrian (my other blog has been here since 2015, but i perused far longer), I fawn over Tom Hiddleston.

(SPOILERS and also TW:suicide/death all around)

Act Three

The first act starts with a student reading Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, the I am large, I contain multitudes part, when another student bring up a news article that a giant earthquake hit California, and it's mostly sunken now. Then the wifi goes out. The teacher, Marty Anderson, tries to calm everybody down, and the school day ends, with some teacher conferences about the parents freaking out about the end of the world, and how the wifi is never coming back. On his way back home, Marty sees this sign that says "Charles Krantz, 39 great years! Thanks Chuck!" and wonders who Chuck is, and nobody seems to know either. It cuts to a nurse, Felicia Gordon, who's hearing the news about what new thing has been destroyed, it seems like the entire world, except for Illinois, where it takes place, has been destroyed. Then. She hears a radio ad, celebrating Chuck, the same "39 great years!". She finished her day, and it goes back to Marty, home watching TV, but the only thing on is this clip of two dancers. We find out Felicia was his ex wife, and they talk about whats going on. Marty brings up the cosmic calendar, and they hang up eventually, to tune in for the night.

The next day, Marty goes to leave for work and finds that there's been a giant sinkhole on the road he uses to go home, the new alternative, since the bridge he normally uses collapsed. He talks to Gus, his neighbor (played by the amazing Matthew Lillard!) and they discuss how they think everybody's accepted it's the end, and they've made peace, because everything has collapsed but here, and all the major food producers are gone so even if it isn't the end, it might as well be. Marty heads back home to watch TV, but the last channels eventually goes down too, leaving lost signal signs every channel. It cuts to another Thanks Chuck ad.

Then we see Felicia, who's at the hospital for work. There's no patients though, no staff, just her friend Bri. He says they might as well go home, nobody's here, and nobody's going to be here. They hear the monitors going off at (yes this is important) 75 bpm. Every monitor, there's no patients, but they chalk it up to the monitors acting funny. Then, Felicia sees one last patient. Chuck. In the hospital bed, monitor also beeping at 75. His wife, and son comforting him. She looks away, and it's gone. It cuts back to Marty, who's left to be with Felicia, to spend his last moments with her, so neither are alone. On his way, he meets Sam, who works at a funeral home, and he talks about how business has boomed since the beginning of the end, due to a lot of self inflicted deaths, and how he wanted to be a weatherman but didn't think he had the personality, they walk to the neighborhood Felicity lives at, where he sees one of the kids in his neighborhood skating down the street. They make small talk, but the power goes completely out. Everywhere. Then, every house in the block, all the windows, show the Thanks Chuck! ad. He tells the kid to go back home, be with her parents. They know what's coming. He books it to Felicia's house, they embrace, and head to the back yard to see the stars, which are incredibly clear. Then, they see the planets disappear. Felicia says she this this is it. Marty agrees, and holds her hand. Then, everything else follows, and Marty tells Felicia "I love y-". Cuts to black.

I was so confused at this point. My theories were that somehow Chuck was this omnipresent figure responsible for the entire universe, that his retirement or death was somehow the harbinger of the end of the world. I had no idea what i was watching because i'll be honest, i haven't read the original story by Stephen King. I had also assumed that it was a very short movie, and somehow a third installment for a series I'd never heard about. Then the screen goes back to

Act Two.

This time, it's much shorter, and shows you Chuck. But it starts with Taylor, a drumming busker setting up. It tells about how she went to Julliard but dropped out, she doesn't like the structure, she likes being in the moment. Then it shows Janice, who had just gotten broken up with, through text. She happens to be in the same area. And finally. Our man, Chuck! He's an accountant, and they draw detail to his shoes, he wears a very specific type, and he was here on a business trip, on his way towards his hotel. But he hesitates. The narrator mentions that he doesn't know it yet, but he has only 6 more months left to live. He walks nearby Taylor, who feels this urge to announce his presence, so she changes up her tune. Chuck, inexplicably, stops, puts his suitcase down, and starts dancing. There's some moves that flash scenes of an older woman doing the same moves, unexplained, and the crowd slowly turns up, and cheers Chuck on. Janice starts dancing along, so Chuck invites her to join, and the two tear it up on the dance floor. It comes to an pause, when Chuck gets a bad headache, but convinces everybody it's his glasses, and continue on. It comes to a natural close, Chuck and Janice help Taylor pack up. She gives them a portion of the money she made, and says that they could do that professionally, if they wanted. Janice and Chuck refuse the money at first, but accept after Taylor's insistence. Chuck and Janice walk together after Taylor has to leave, chatting about their day, and then split up once Janice reaches her area, and Chuck goes to the hotel, concerned about the headache he has, and its cuts out. I cannot remember when, but at some point, we see the little girl skating from act "three". The narrator explains before the scene ends that Chuck doesn't know why he stopped, but as his memory and brain began to deteriorate, he stopped being able to walk, or talk on his own, and this was one of his last memories to go, and he never understood why it was so important.

After this, it still was confusing me what exactly Chuck's connection is, as I thought it was the same world, but before it ended, Chuck's working and healthy, and seeing the same kid from before cemented it. Our final act, is what truly connects everything.

Act One

This time, it shows Chuck as a kid. It explains how his mother, father, and unborn sister all died in a crash, and he lives with his grandparents on his Dad's side. His grandfather Albie was an accountant, and started drinking more to deal with the grief. After silence, and sadness, and grief, he finds his grandmother Sara, but calls her bubby, cooking in the kitchen and watches. She turns on the radio, and starts dancing. You see the scenes that flashed from last act, and understand they were flashbacks to this scene. Even the way Chuck invited Janice was the same way his grandma invited him.

Then, we hear about this cupola in the house, it's locked, and Chuck wants to know why but his grandma says its because the floors are unsafe, the house is originally from the 1800s. Later, his grandpa tells stories about how he saw some of the neighbors kids ghosts in there, and he must never go up there. Bubby catches on, and sends Albie off to the store, and sits Chuck down and explains that he had too much to drink, and is just telling stories, but when Chuck mentions the two kids by name, she explains that they both died tragically, and even though Albie says he saw them, he didnt. After heading to bed after that conversation, it cuts to Bubby making muffins for their neighbor Vera, which he offers to bring to her, as shes known as the neighborhood gossip. He asks about the kids, and she lets it slip that one got hit by a car, and the other hung himself, but realizes shes said too much and sends him home.

In class, we see his 6th grade teacher reading the same Walt Whitman section, with nobody paying attention except Chuck. After, Chuck asks the teacher what does the author mean by the passage, and she explains by putting her hands on the sides of his head and asking whats between her hands. He replies his brain, and she says not quite, what else is there, is it your family? your friends? and he understands better, and repeats the "I am large, i contain multitudes" sentiment. On his way out, he sees the classroom Marty works in, copying the opening scene of him at his desk, the a poster for the dancing club and joins.

He impresses everybody, and makes good progress, despite being paired up with the weaker dancers, the teacher rewards him with getting paired up with the older, cool 8th grade girl Cat. They get along well, and make great dance partners. During a free style break, he shows Cat how to moonwalk, and then it evolves into the entire class, teacher included. During this montage, we see a lot of the same moves from the previous act. After this, we see Cat bringing up that the two should use the dances from the club in the school dance, and he gets giften the same pair of shoes the narrator mentions, and we find out why he wears them, and how he learned to dance, and it also alludes to the reasoning why he decided to dance with Taylor and Janice.

After this, we see him with his grandfather, who's grading some math sheets, he missed 2, and his grandpa comments that he's really good, and thinks if he retries, he can get them all correct, where Chuck complains that this is boring. His grandpa goes on a rant about how math, when taught properly is an art, that it never lies, it can only tell the truth, and learning how to do it properly, like his job as an accountant is what keeps peoples lives going, that he studies their lives, every purchase they make, and skillfully finds out how he can save them for every messed up form or misguided purchase, peoples lives lie in every file he has in his office, and that's why there's money in being a good accountant, and not a dancer. There's an explanation of the cosmic calendar, like what Marty talked about too.. It seems to get a little bit heated, and after this, Albie falls asleep, leaving his keys unattended.

Chuck takes the keys, and finally goes to the cupola. He gets the door unlocked, and open, but doesnt get to see before Albie screams at him to get away, and that he was told not to go there. We see him stare at the door, terrified, and clutching his left arm, while Chuck sits on the stairs, also scared, as Albie has never yelled at him. Albie closes the door, locks it, and says "Waitings the scariest part" then sees how scared Chuck is, and profusely apologizes and comforts him, but explains he can't ever do that again.

The school dance is after the events of that night, and while he was excited, and practiced for this dance, on the night of, he blows Cat off and says he hurt his leg, and wants the right song. She walks off, disappointed but goes to her boyfriend. Cat comes back up, and he rejects her again. He goes to get punch, and gives the same story to his teacher, where she says shes seen lots of kids, and they always walk different after an injury, and that he seems fine, and should've told Cat the truth, she could handle it. After a bit, he goes back to Cat and decides to dance. It was almost the exact same scene as the dance from the last act, even down to a crowd surrounding them. In the background, we see Felicia as a teacher. After, when the crowd and hype has died down, we see Cat's boyfriend looking angry, and Chuck runs outside. It cuts to a clip of Chuck, sick, but before he was in the hospital admitting to his wife that the scar on his hand has a different story, he said it was after he got beat up by Cat's boyfriend, but it was really because he was outside after being overheated, and needing a break, his hand got caught on the barbed wire, after running and dancing around the track field. The night ends, and it skips to Albie getting up, and clutching the same left arm, dying of a heart attack, with Chuck now 17. He inherits everything, and his maternal grandparents decide to move in with him, after he refused to move with them since he grew up there, and is heading off to the University of Illinois. They show Albie's funeral, which was short, and simple, what Albie wanted, and he discusses everything with the funeral home, where we see Sam, the man from the act three. He discusses how Albie had called him in advance to discuss everything, paid and all, and he gives Chuck his condolences, Albie saved the home a lot of money catching onto their mistakes. He talks about wanting to be a weatherman, just like with Marty, but adds more detail about how weathermen just know, they have this stare, like if you make plans, and they know the weather will be bad, they have a certain look, he calls it the weathermans stare, and explains he never had that, so he chose this, but when he last saw Albie, he said it's like Albie knew, he had that weatherman's stare. One of the last scenes, is Chuck finally going into the Cupola, with nobody to stop him. He sees nothing, then blinks, and sees himself, in the hospital bed. at 39 years old. Monitor beeping at 75 bpm, just like what Felicia saw. And realizes his grandpa did see the neighbor's, and saw Bubby, and when he went in there the last time, saw himself after his heart attack. Chuck blinks, and it's gone. He deicdes he's gonna live his life, and make the most of it, and finally understood what Albie meant by the "waiting is the hard part" comment. The movie ends with the room empty. He contains multitudes. I'm so sorry for the wordy review, i just could not do this movie justice without being so detailed. It's so beautiful. Finally piecing together that act three was the universe inside his own head, and everything was falling apart as his brain slowly shut down, and why the Thanks Chuck! ad was everywhere. Why everything but the town in Illinois he grew up in was destroyed, the house Marty lived in was the one Chuck grew up in, the dance from act two was the same as his dance with his grandma, and the school dance, why he was drawn, it's just such a gorgeous movie, and makes you think hard about existence, I really REALLY loved it. thank you for reading the yap sesh, and I'll see you guys next time with a less existential crisis-y movie.

#movie review #movies #the life of chuck #spoilers #holy fuck this is almost 3k words long #my laptop almost died while i typed this it took me so long

1 note · View note