Like Rob Reiner and Frank Darabont, Mike Flanagan has made Stephen King adaptations a speciality. But while Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep felt no less ripe for cinematic treatment than, say, Misery or Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption , King’s 2020 novella The Life Of Chuck seems a peculiar choice. Hardly a genre banger, it is the story of an average man’s life told in reverse. And rather than plucking at one strand or refitting the material entirely, Flanagan has boldly gone for a faithful take. Like the novella, he’s even divided his film into three chapters, thereby risking the dangers of the anthology movie.

It opens strongly with a curious apocalypse tale. But there are no storm clouds or explosions in this Armageddon. Just sunny skies and quiet streets, with peop

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