King's "The life of Chuck"

Of all the movies from last year, this one hit hardest. It perfectly shows the world we carry inside our heads. I even read the Stephen King original. Careful, spoilers.

The end of the world. The internet goes out. Earthquakes. Buildings collapse. Everything falls apart. On billboards all over the city – “Thank you, Chuck! 39 wonderful years!” Nobody knows who he is or why the world is ending.

Childhood. An old house with a locked room on the third floor. Little Chuck peeks into the locked room and sees his adult self, dying. He decides to live life to the fullest…

And becomes an actuary. A person who calculates probabilities. Practical, safe, reasonable. Fear disguised as common sense.

An ordinary Thursday. Chuck hears drums and dances in the street. Just because. The only moment in his entire life when the spacesuit wasn’t making decisions for him.

There’s a great scene where the teacher cups his head in her hands. What am I holding? Everything you’ve ever thought. Everyone you’ve known. Everyone you’ll ever meet. The whole world.

The world crumbling at the beginning is the world inside Chuck. His brain is dying, and with it dies everything he ever knew. Neurons go dark, connections break, memories vanish. A farewell to yourself.

The screen goes black – and what remains? That Thursday.

Reading the news lately, you can physically feel the old world disappearing. Oh, where are you going, my little world… But to hell with it – the whole world is you. As long as you’re here, it’s not going anywhere. The question is what you’re doing while it exists.

You can know you’ll die, promise yourself to live – and still sleep through your whole life.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

• https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/5406956/
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12908150/