Instead of horror, the Stephen-King film with Hiddleston relies on an emotional message.
Director Mike Flanagan (47) and the horror genre are usually inseparable. Whether series such as “Midnight Mass” and “The downfall of the house Usher”, or films such as “Still” and “Ouija: origin of evil”. Special Slip of Stephen-King novelswho can feel his books faster than some people can read the blurb, Flanagan has recently done it.
Also “The Life of Chuck“Falls into this category. That means: It is a king adaptation and is brought to the Leistwand by Flanagan. But even if the appearance of the work initially suggests,” The Life of Chuck “is not a fatalistic horror film. Not a cynical song about the world. It is the exact opposite: a soulful love letter to this strange, sometimes unfair, sometimes unfair. Contradictory thing we call life.
Scene from “The Life of Chuck”
Just give up? That's what it's about
The world goes to the dogs. But not creeping, but in time -lapse. Florida and California have sunk in the ocean within a few months, earthquakes shake the world, and a volcano has broken out in Germany. The first thing to do is say that the internet is said to follow, television and power supply will soon follow, the food will be scarce. The only profession that does not have to worry about lack of employment is funeral system. After all, the suicide rate has increased rapidly.
The ex-couple Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan, 37) and Marty Anderson (Chiwetel EjioFor, 48) is one of the few people who have not yet given up. He is a teacher and tries to give hope to his students (and their parents) as much as possible. In the hospital, she continues to fight for every single human life. In the midst of the increasing chaos around you, you are strangely noticeable, which are dedicated to an accountant named Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston, 44): “Charles Krantz, 39 Great Years! Thanks, chuck”, is written next to the image of a sympathetically smiling suit. Only: no one seems to know this chuck. And why is it so intimately thanked him while the world dies?
Scene from “The Life of Chuck”
Everything has an end, even the beginning
The beginning of “The Life of Chuck” is the end – and vice versa. It may not be noticeable the first time, but the film begins with its final “Chapter Drei” and works chronologically. The less is known about the two sections shown in advance, the more intensely the cinema experience fails. That is why only so much: the described summary only covers the first half hour of the almost 110 -minute film.
The following statement is not completely free of exceptions. But as a rule, the less fantastic elements they contain, the better. “The convicted” still keeps first place in the eternal film best list of the evaluation page “IMDB”. And “Misery” with Oscar winner Kathy Bates (77) is also considered one of the best King adaptations. “The Life of Chuck” relies on supernatural aspects, but they drive a secular and very human history. Similar to as it is in “The Green Mile”.
Central source of inspiration for the story – in the original only a short story – is the American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892), more precisely his famous poem “Singing of myself”. The most famous text passage always appears in “The Life of Chuck”: “Do I contradict myself? Well, then I contradict myself. (I'm big. I'm containing manyities)”.
Scene from “The Life of Chuck”
What if…?
“The Life of Chuck” encourages its viewers to look back on their unique biography from a new perspective. Is it possible to think primarily of negative memories and to despair? Do you concentrate only on the beautiful, but does the risk of lying in your pocket yourself? Or do you allow yourself to look at the big picture? Everything that was. Everything that could have been. The taken and missed opportunities that only make us in conjunction with the person we are today. Chuck would have loved to become dancers, instead he only juggles with numbers all day. But why not break out into a spontaneous dance in the pedestrian zone anyway?
“The Life of Chuck” is one philosophical, sentimental filmwho does not fall into the trap of becoming mixed or stirring. This is alongside flanagans Beautiful visual language And owe to the great sound especially to the cast. Whether Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan or Mark Hamill (73), who plays the grandfather of the title figure: all of them can be noticed how much passion was to make the film about what it has become: a cinema experience with rare value, a cynic -free love letter in life.
Conclusion:
Around a year ago, Nick Cave (67) was a guest of Stephen Colbert's show (61). There he spoke about the loss of two sons aged 15 and 31 and how these two incredible tragedies shaped him. Only through them could he understand the value of life and the importance of hope. Without knowing it at the time, he summarized the – more important – message of the beautiful film “The Life of Chuck” in perfect words at the time:
“In contrast to cynicism, hope has to be worked hard, places high demands on us and can often feel like the most unsustainable and lonely place in the world. Hope is also not a neutral attitude. It is confrontational. It is the combative feeling that cynicism can destroy. It states that the world and its inhabitants are valuable and worth defending.
4 1/2 of 5 king-size score