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Summed up, Mike Flanagan made a deep, multilayered yet beautiful film about the value of life. It's really hard to explain but Flanagan does not waste a single shot. There is a narration throughout the movie, yet right from 'Act Three,' everything seen and experienced unfolds perfectly in 'Act One.' Ejiofor & Gillan are fantastic in Act Three but if The Life of Chuck is to be nominated for anything, it has to be the sound. From the cosmic elements in 'Act Three' to the dancing scenes in 'Acts Two & One,' Flanagan did an exceptional job incorporating the sound throughout.

Of course, everyone was focusing on Hiddleston and his character, but Tom even mentioned it was really a team effort in Act Two and Annalise Basso, Hiddleston's dance partner in Act Two, and Taylor Gordon (who is in the credits as The Pocket Queen), the busker, all three combined with their choreographers Mandy Moore & Stephanie Powell really make the dance scene sing. Taylor Gordon is a talent in herself in her brief, but excellent role.

What surprised me was how Act One was with young Chuck and no one talks about how excellent the kids were. Their performances were just as brilliant as the adults, if not more so when young Chuck receives a very haunting monologue from his grandfather (an unbelievable Mark Hamill) about certain choices in life. Act One really helps put the puzzle together that was Act Three, where the cosmic elements can be off-putting, but it all serves a purpose. Stephen King is right when he says The Life of Chuck is one of the good ones. The spirit and energy is felt from beginning to end, and with all on board performances giving their best, Flanagan is further establishing himself as one of contemporary's greater directors.

One thing I will say is The Life of Chuck is dedicated In Memory to Scott Wampler. And there are a few cameos in The Life of Chuck but Scott's inclusion just tugged me right at the heart. Great film.

I went into The Life of Chuck knowing nothing about it other than it being a Stephen King novella.

I assumed the movie was going to be horror, and I was so wrong, in the best way. Mike Flanagan was a director I was unfamiliar with as well - so my expectations were really empty.

That being said - The Life of Chuck took the beats of what makes a great horror film - fleshed out and relatable characters with a unique and mysterious situation to put them in.

I want to leave my critique relatively vague as I believe the hook of the film works best going in without knowing much.

I left the film feeling a mix of joy and melancholy and appreciated the artistry that brought me there.

I do recommend.

This is a beautiful film. The pacing was perfect, with likeable characters. It doesn't spoil itself or its message, but rather gives you three acts leaving you pondering how everything weaves together.

I have pondered in my life why certain moments are impactful and have helped form me into the individual I am today. It feels like utter randomness, but that's the point isn't it. What matters to me...what gives me substance...is what makes me the unique person I am. It's the good, the bad, the meager, all of it that comes together to form our universe and reality as we know it. So I'll leave you with this: Be kind to yourself and others. Hug your loved ones, forgive those you can forgive, and when your expiration date comes accept and trust that your life was exactly as it was meant to be.

It honestly boggles my mind how I kept reading about how this movie was bombing at the box office, when it clearly was very poorly marketed. It was two weeks after its "wide" release before it finally showed up to our local art house/second run movie theater. The chain multiplexes gave it a complete miss.

Mike Flanagan is a very talented screenwriter and director and this was possibly Stephen King's most sentimental work. And there's two INCREDIBLE dance scenes. The result is completely human, uplifting film.

There is some anxiety inducing story in the start of the film, but it is not a horror film by any measure. King is also very good with general fiction too, after all.

This movie will stick with you for awhile. Hours after my viewing, I was still thinking about it (and tearing up.)

I had the pleasure of attending Regal's Mystery Movie Monday and was absolutely delighted to preview The Life of Chuck. Directed by Mike Flanagan and adapted from Stephen King's novella, this film is a deeply moving exploration of life's fleeting moments and the quiet, powerful ways one person can leave a mark on the world.

Tom Hiddleston gives a captivating performance as Charles "Chuck" Krantz, portraying his life in reverse, from death back to childhood. Jacob Tremblay and Benjamin Pajak, who portray Chuck at younger ages, deliver equally sincere and affecting performances, each capturing the spirit and complexity of the character at various stages of his life. The film's unconventional structure may initially challenge viewers, but by the end, it offers a resonant, emotionally rich experience that lingers long after the credits roll.

The supporting cast brings warmth, depth, and surprise. Mia Sara, in a heartfelt return to the screen, shines as Chuck's mother. Matthew Lillard's brief appearance is both deeply touching and meomorable (my one complaint is that he did not return later in the movie), and Mark Hamill lends weight and tenderness in his role as Chuck's grandfather. Nick Offerman serves as the narrator, and his voice, calm, grounded, and thoughtful, beautifully anchors the film's reflective tone.

As a teacher, I was especially moved by the portrayal of educators. Characters like Miss Richards (Kate Siegel), Miss Rohrbacher (Samantha Sloyan), and the beautifully portrayed role by Chiwetel Ejiofor, all embody the kind of teachers we aspire to be, compassionate, inspiring, and transformative. Their presence in Chuck's life is a testament to the quiet heroism of educators.

And I have to say it, Rahul Kohli is a joy to watch in everything he does. His presence is always a highlight.

The Life of Chuck is more than just a film, it's a love letter to life, memory, connection, and the meaning we create in our short time here. Flanagan's masterful direction, paired with a stellar cast and emotionally intelligent storytelling, makes this one of the most beautiful and thought-provoking films of the year.

I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone ready to be moved, and reminded of what truly matters.

I so very much enjoy Tom Hiddleston in films. Karen Gillan is also a treat to watch in selected films. The rest of the cast is worth more than an honorable mention alone, as many familiar faces grace the screen (especially toward the beginning of the film). Lastly, I tend to love this 'type' of movie. I can't give too much away without using a spoiler tag, but if you watch the interview(s) with the cast featured here on IMDB, you'll know what "type" I am referring to. I wonder if I can get away with 'apocalyptic', since that is a word straight from one of these interviews.

That said ... it was a bit of a letdown for me.

The beginning was slow, but it was good. It built an expectancy toward so much more and a feeling that it was going to get so much better. Sadly, that was never fully realized or delivered.

Beginning in the second act, the film definitely starts to bog down and suffers from side or follow-up scenes that are just way too long and a bit far-fetched. The narration, too, is used far too often to the point of it just about verging on annoying.

By the third act, when they begin to introduce what is supposed to be the point of the entire thing, it has already been too bogged down by too much of not enough - if that makes sense. While the child actor is adorable and does so well, here too the movie just drags.

Moreover, everything is so overly-EXPLAINED. It's kind of like Flanagan did not trust the audience to understand what was happening, so either the narrator or characters went to great lengths to explain every detail. Well, while some may disagree, I believe audiences are more intelligent than this film gives them (us) credit for.

Sorry Mike Flanagan fans, but this is the third time I have been let down by one of his offerings. :(

Even though it's a book adaptation, it's a film that really makes you appreciate film. It's thought provoking and requires you to put the plot together for yourself. There's so many small details from clocks, to people in the background. There are some mystical elements about it, but at the end of the day it's pretty simple, Chucks life wasn't extreme or grand, but the universe he goes on to create, the one that lives inside of him is immense, and powerful. The message of how astounding one life can be, just go out and live, because your time will eventually come, and you'll have wished you followed your true passions. 10/10, I definitely recommend. Especially to real film watchers.

It's incredibly frustrating to watch a film that has so much potential but ultimately fails to capitalize on it. Such is the case with one of the most heavily anticipated offerings of the summer movie season, "The Life of Chuck, from writer-director Mike Flanagan, based on the short story of the same name from author Steven King. Told in three acts in reverse chronological order, the picture follows the life of Charles "Chuck" Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) and how his adult self emerged from a childhood of mixed experiences under the care of his paternal grandparents (Mark Hamill, Mia Sara). It focuses on how an inquisitive preteen (Jacob Tremblay) with a love of and gift for dance ultimately (and largely inexplicably) settled for a mediocre life as an accountant instead, one whose existence was sadly cut short in his prime and subsequently provided the basis for soul-searching and introspective reflection among characters and audience members alike. In telling this story, the film seeks to address a variety of grand philosophical and cosmological questions, many of which are tied to regrets about the compromises we make during our lifetimes. While the film certainly has its share of genuine flashes of brilliance in this regard, there aren't nearly enough of them, and those that manage to surface are frequently underdeveloped, soft peddled, applied inconsistently (even in contradictory fashion) or significantly watered down. It's almost as if the filmmaker lacked sufficient confidence in his own message, yielding a superficial, uneven, sometimes treacly treatment of its foundational principles. The fault here primarily lies with a script that should have gone through one or more additional rounds of revisions to refine what it was attempting to achieve - its quest to make the truly profound statement it was striving for instead of settling for something far less sublime and eminently unsatisfying. Moreover, the screenplay's shortcomings carry over into other aspects of the production, particularly the unnecessary inclusion of extraneous material while simultaneously undercooking other more relevant elements. And this, in turn, affects such other aspects as the film's underwhelming editing and sometimes-unimpressive performances (most notably Hiddleston, who ends up primarily playing a glorified walk-on). To its credit, there are some noteworthy attributes, such as the positively mesmerizing opening sequence (as presented here, "Act Three"), the picture's delightful sense of whimsy, clever (if occasionally overdone) homages to other pictures (especially "Back to the Future" (1985) and "The Truman Show" (1998)), an excellent original score and commendable complementary soundtrack (despite its mind-boggling exclusion of what would have been a perfectly suited addition, one that Tom Petty fans will readily recognize), and a fine supporting performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor. But, these assets aside, they're not enough to make up for the picture's shortfalls. To that end, then, moviegoers looking for better screening choices that address material like what was intended here would be wise to view Tim Burton's far superior "Big Fish" (2003) instead. Indeed, had it been handled more adeptly, "The Life of Chuck" could have been one of the best-ever adaptations of one of King's works and one of the best overall releases of recent years, a picture with much to offer audiences on so many fronts. Unfortunately, we'll never get to see that film and the valuable wisdom it could have imparted for how we live our lives and how we can get the most out of them while we have the chance.

The Life of Chuck (2025) is the first non-horror movie made by modern day horror legend Mike Flanagan and it is easily one of his best movies in his filmography.

Positives for The Life of Chuck (2025): This movie had such a heartwarming and good nature to the story that I loved from start to finish. You have a great ensemble cast that includes Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Annalise Basso, Mia Sara, Matthew Lillard, Carl Lumbly, Samantha Sloyan, Harvey Guillen, Kate Siegel, Nick Offerman, Q'orianka Kilcher, David Dastmalchian, Rahul Kohli, Heather Langenkamp, Michael Trucco, Molly C. Quinn, Antonio Raul Corbo, Trinity Bliss, Violet McGraw, Hamish Linklater and Lauren LaVera and they are all awesome. It also helps that every character in this movie is likable and even the ones who have flaws that are still likable people. The movie has a fantastic pace to the story that had me engaged and I wanted to know what was going to happen in the different timelines of Chuck Krantz's life. The movie is basically everyone having a conversation with other people and while that could be boring, Mike Flanagan does an excellent job at making them engaging for the audience. There are moments in the movie that had me smiling and I was on the verge of tears. And finally, the movie has a fantastic job at delivering its messages in a way that feel sincere to its audience.

Overall, The Life of Chucky (2025) was a wonderful experience from start to finish and it is one of my favorite movies of 2025.

Although Nick Offerman's name only appears at the bottom of the cast list his narrating is in my opinion the absolute best thing of this movie. Okay he's just narrating but he's what makes this movie stand out. His smooth voice is a delight to listen to. The movies has three chapters and they start from chapter three to one. Personally I thought the beginning was much better than the rest, promising and mysterious. The next two chapters were not bad, far from that, but the beginning was just much better. Good acting from the entire cast, and a wonderful story pleasant to follow. But is it a masterpiece like the poster says? No.

I feel like this movie had all the parts to make it a beautiful experience, but it failed to put them together properly. The initial mystery in act 1 is quite intriguing and makes you wonder, what this kind-looking man Chuck, that keeps popping up in advertisements all over the world has to do with the planets looming demise. But acts 2 and 3 (or 2 and 1, as the movie decides to engage in "reverse" storytelling) fail to convey a coherent story or motive. It is all losely held together by the premise of "being your true self" and "you are all the things that you experience and all the memories that you make" but the way these themes are shown are on the one hand to vague to truly get you invested, but on the other hand also riddled in clichees. The grandpa giving a discouraging speech to the kid about how it is more important to stick to tangible things like math, than to creative aspirations. The teacher giving a 5 minute talk to his ex-wife about "how we are only a blip second in the eternity that is the universe". The kid finally overcoming his fears of expressing himself at the most clichee high-school graduation dance scene of all time. It has the topics that are supposed to make you cry and feel hopeful at the same time, but they feel like you have seen them before a million times in better stories. And the most intriguing part of the plot, the most profound experience that the main character must have had had throughout his entire life is only revealed to us in the final scene. It would have been great to see, how this would have shaped his actions going forward, but in the timeline of the movie, we only get one scene of him afterwards. And while it includes an impressive dance choreography, it is not enough to fully capture the character´s whole underlying motivation. And the overall explanation of the initial mystery also kind of falls flat.

I left the cinema feeling nothing.

There is a concept here about the truth: we live, and then we die, and because I know it's a movie based on a story by Stevn King it has me asking the question: which am I more afrriad of?

I know the ambiguous trailer did not seem like anything you would expect from a Steven King movie, but what I got is exactly why this dude is The Master of Horror.

Maybe I am reading too much into a film, possibly influenced far greater by Mike Flanagan's filmmaking, yet the emotion I felt for this movie was deep.

That's the brilliance of this movie, I felt something at the end, and it made me think, and it was beautiful for that.

It's everything I expected from a movie/

When you think of the pairing of Stephen King and filmmaker Mike Flanagan, your immediate thought is likely horror. The American author is famous for novels like It, The Shining, and Misery, while the American filmmaker has delivered some of the most acclaimed horror in the last decade with Oculus (2013), The Haunting of Hill House (2018), and Doctor Sleep (2019). Yet their latest collaboration ventures far from the horror genre, instead embracing a more philosophical and contemplative tone.

The Life of Chuck (2024) is adapted from a short story in King's collection If It Bleeds. Told in three acts and in reverse chronological order, the story begins at the end: we follow a high school teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in a dystopian near-future that feels uncomfortably present-rolling blackouts, raging wildfires, and mounting conflict between Pakistan and India. When the face of a seeming nobody, Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), begins appearing on billboards and ads with a cryptic message-"Thank you, Chuck, for 39 great years"-no one can explain why, especially amid an apparent apocalypse. We then move backward in time to meet Chuck as an adult: an unassuming accountant. Eventually, we arrive at his childhood, where he is raised by his math-loving, alcoholic grandfather (Mark Hamill) and his dance-loving grandmother (Mia Sara).

The Life of Chuck is difficult to summarize-or even introduce. That ambiguity likely contributed to its initial struggle to secure distribution, despite winning the top prize at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. The film begins as a gripping dystopian drama but gradually transforms into a slice-of-life meditation on an ordinary man's existence. It ultimately feels more akin to a Noah Baumbach or Richard Linklater film than to the usual work of Flanagan or King, evoking the emotional resonance of King's Stand by Me and The Green Mile.

This isn't a cradle-to-grave biopic but rather a presentation of three key moments in Chuck's life, tied together by Nick Offerman's warm narration that channels King's lyrical prose. Both King and Flanagan have a gift for crafting vivid characters in mere seconds, perhaps best illustrated in a mall dance sequence where three people we've only just met share a moment so emotionally resonant that it nearly brings you to tears. Yet the emotional core of the film lies in Chuck's youth, which gives us the fullest picture of his life and connects the dots established in the earlier acts. In many ways, the film mirrors how we get to know people in real life: starting with a surface impression, discovering small clues to their passions, and then uncovering the deeper history that shaped them. This reverse narrative structure is rare in cinema, used most famously by Christopher Nolan in Memento (2000) to depict the experience of short-term memory loss.

The Life of Chuck is a mosaic of small moments, interactions, and observations that cumulatively reveal the life of a man who may, at first glance, seem insignificant. But King's story and Flanagan's adaptation elevate the ordinary, framing the narrative with Walt Whitman's poem Song of Myself, especially the line: "I contain multitudes." This quote becomes key to understanding the supernatural undercurrents and thematic glue that binds the film's three acts.

Some viewers may wish for more obvious connections between the segments or a more traditional narrative arc. Each act is a gem in its own right, but the transitions can feel abrupt or disconnected. Still, adding filler or more conventional storytelling would only dilute the film's essence. The sparse structure is deliberate-and powerful. Padding it with exposition or additional characters would risk undermining the film's emotional clarity and philosophical weight. Flanagan's refusal to spoon-feed the audience is a courageous choice and one of the reasons I admire him as a filmmaker, both on television and in cinema. Like Terrence Malick's later work-though far less pretentious-The Life of Chuck asks the viewer to meet it halfway.

Visually, Flanagan continues to impress with a clean, distinctive cinematic language that enhances rather than distracts. His editing and pacing feel like listening to a master orator-confident, fluid, and perfectly timed. He's also one of the most consistent directors of actors working today, drawing superb performances from both stars and newcomers alike. While Hiddleston and Ejiofor are predictably excellent, it's the younger cast-especially Benjamin Pajak as young Chuck-who shine. Even those with only a line or two make an impression, thanks in part to strong casting and Flanagan's knack for coaxing depth from every performance.

In the end, The Life of Chuck is as difficult to classify as it is to explain. Its vignettes and meditations on what makes a life meaningful steer clear of sentimentality to deliver a heartfelt and enriching experience. With bold direction, a unique structure if slightly disjointed, and a profound source text, The Life of Chuck may not follow the rules-but that's precisely why it shouldn't be missed.

I wanted to love this film and there were a lot of positives but it just did not connect the dots enough for me to stay engaged.

I liked a lot of the elements- acting was excellent- Hiddleston exceeds with his dancing scenes. Mark Hamill is also fantastic even though he's almost unrecognizable. It's shown in a peculiar way- beginning with act three, but I was distracted by many of the unexplained mysteries. They intertwine the fate of the galaxy with the fate of human life and I know that was on purpose. But this viewer needed more. The story reminded me of the Tree of Life and the dancing scenes "Lala land" and the narration, 500 days of Summer. I'm sad that there wasn't more but maybe that was the intention.

Adapting Stephen King to the screen is a tricky proposition and has rarely been successful. With the exception of Carrie (the original Brian DePalma is a horror classic) and possibly Kubrick s The Shining (which gets better with age and when looked at through an auteur's lens) the only successful adaptations IMHO have been his short stories and novellas (The Body/Stand By Me and Shawshank come immediately to mind). Life of Chuck falls into the latter category. In addition to being well written and acted, the telling of the story in reverse is generally difficult, and in this outing is surprisingly effective. And it's fun finding the Easter Eggs in the third part of the movie that explains much of the action in the first part.

I really liked this, though I fear it will be divisive. Nonlinear (or counter linear?) storytelling is not everyone's cup of tea. My husband hated it until I told him it's a Mike Flanagan movie (we're fans) and it then made sense. As mentioned, well acted. Well written. Well directed. Prettily photographed. The end of the first portion is a surprise (I will not give it away) that ties all three parts together.

IMO it's a worthwhile two hours spent in the dark with a room full of strangers.

I never read Stephen King's story but I am guessing that if I did, and then saw this film, I'd be pretty disappointed. Literature allows you to form fantastic images before your mind's eye, film adaptations risk becoming mundane derivates and I think that's probably what happened here.

The acting was not bad, a little pedestrian though. Some of the visual ideas were alright but they did not add to the story or even felt that related to it, so I can't give credit for that. The sound design may have been technically fine, but again felt unrelated.

There are some philosophical ideas being pandered that may resonate if you never thought too deeply about your existence but they are actually pretty shallow. There is tons of loose ends and completely absurd plot holes, which may be excused as magic realism but I've seen that done much, much better in other films.

Meh out of 10 I'm afraid.

I went to see this movie during a bored Monday at work. I found the synopsis and trailer/preview for this movie to be a little underwhelming, but the high RT score for this movie drew me a little bit. In the end, I wasn't too impressed, but I managed to stay interested in the movie until the end: I didn't walk out. So the movie wasn't all bad

The movie's acting is good; the overall vibe is sentimental and nostaglic. I can appreciate the messaging about "Live your life to the fullest." The movie is split in three parts, going in reverse chronological order. Yet even with that unorthodox storytelling method, the movie skillfully manages to avoid feeling disjointed, muddy, or hard to follow. And most of all - the dance scene in Act Two is so charming and wonderful that it legitimately brought a smile on my face.

That said - I have some issues. The first problem is that the movie gets too sappy, sentimental, and just downright corny. The parts relating to Walt Whitman's line "I contain multitudes" (including the final scene) are forced and very cringe. The movie has an unbearable score. It's as if the movie is constantly straining to tell the viewer, "Hey, I'm a tearjerker."

I did find myself more interested in Acts Three and Two (i.e. The opening and middle acts in the movie). I got a little bored at times during Act One. The version of Chuck played by Tom Hiddleston (i.e. Loki from the Avengers) is the most charming version of Chuck, but he doesn't get the most screen-time or dialogue. His childhood selves, played by different actors, get more attention

Lastly - the movie's fundamental message is about living life to the fullest, but the movie could've conveyed the same exact message with a lot less fluff. A bunch of the dialogue/monologues in this movie are unnecessarily drawn out; some scenes are utterly pointless. The filmakers basically come off like college students who inserted a ton of unneeded words, quotations, and details just to meet the required word-count in a final essay.

6.0/10.

Its my first review and english even not my first language and i apologize for the grammar but i have to leave a review, hahaha, this movie makes me think how short our life is, some doesn't even live past 40, like in the calender, only a split second and we are gone, but it doesnt matter, death doesn't matter and don't live your life afraid of it, even if you know when and how you gonna die, we already are the few lucky one to experienced life, what are we gonna do with it, its our choice, do we choose to dance and cherish it or we choose the boring unimportant stuff, cause when we have to go, the universe will die with it, the universe only exist cause we exist, when we die its all gone, back to emptiness but its ok because we lived once. A wonderful 39 years for chuck..wonderful movie indeed..

My wife and I caught a matinee of Life of Chuck (2024) today in theaters. The storyline follows a man marked by tragedy throughout his life, yet he finds inspiration in numbers, music, and the people around him. These elements guide him toward his final days-days that are both blessed and constrained by the very things that gave him hope.

This picture is directed by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House), written by Stephen King (It), and stars Tom Hiddleston (Thor), Jacob Tremblay (Luca), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), and David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil).

This is one of those films with an all-star cast and a heartwarming story rich with depth, symbolism, and life lessons. That said, by the end, you might find yourself wishing for just a little more. I especially loved the Walt Whitman reference that sets the tone for the movie, and the way the subplots around math and music were subtly and thoughtfully woven in. The dancing scenes were a standout for me-the choreography reminded me of Grease and genuinely made me smile.

The film explores the meaning of life with tenderness, showing how relationships shape the journey. The character of the grandmother, who champions love and joy, was a particularly brilliant touch. There are definitely some sad, tear-jerking moments, but also moments of beauty and levity that lift your spirits.

In conclusion, Life of Chuck is a smart, heartfelt meditation on life's journey, reminiscent of Big Fish. I'd give it a solid 7-7.5/10 and recommend seeing it at least once.

I decided to see this film based on its glowing ratings, but unfortunately, I walked away feeling it was completely overrated. I had also watched the trailer beforehand, which offered little insight, so I went in blind, hoping for a powerful story or a meaningful message.

From the start, I assumed the film would offer some sort of profound life lesson. If there was one, I'm still not sure what it was supposed to be. Perhaps the idea was that once you know your future, especially your death, you live differently or maybe you just wait for the inevitable. Either way, the message was muddled and unconvincing.

The movie frequently broke from its own sense of reality, pulling me into moments that felt more surreal than purposeful. This made it hard to stay emotionally invested or grounded in the story. While the ending was certainly unexpected, it left me feeling empty rather than reflective.

What disappointed me most was how slowly the film unfolded, dragging the audience along with very little payoff. By the time the final scene arrived, it felt flat and unsatisfying. I expected much more from a movie with such high praise.

In short, this film didn't live up to the hype-and for me, it was a letdown.

First of all, very important to point out what this and the story it is based on is NOT.

This is not Stephen King horror and it is not Mike Flanagan horror.

Both bring their superlative human(e) sensitivity to the story and the film. Yes, there is a central idea that is IMHO transplanted from Hindu mythology in utterly masterful manner - but it is turned on its head and used as the means of telling a profoundly human story about the profoundly human and universal fact: life is greater than the sum of its moments but even just one perfect moment could be worth living through an entire tumultuous existence filled with good and bad, mishaps and tragedies, traumas and heartbreaks.

It is astounding to have a film like this made in this manner in 2025. Almost as if the Universe was asking for it :)...

The cast and acting is superb, the directing is as one would expect from Flanagan, and adaptation of the story is flawless...

Maybe young people will not resonate with some of its most heartbreaking (and at the same time uplifting) concepts & moments - but even then if someone just sees this as "sentimental" then, with all due respect, is totally missing the point.

It has even more tremendous impact if one hasn't read the story nor the various detailed reviews.

We, humans, wherever we are on the map... we needed this movie.

Sometimes, we're too close to our own lives to truly see them. We need that shift - a view from the third-person perspective - to gain clarity. This remarkable film is precisely that: a profound meditation on life itself and the priceless, often overlooked, little things that make it precious.

I watched it on a quiet weekend evening. I'd been home all day, adrift in a comfortable lethargy. But as the credits rolled, something profound shifted. I couldn't stay inside. An irresistible urge pulled me outdoors, craving fresh air and a different vista. Suddenly, the trees weren't just background; they were dancing in the breeze. The sunset wasn't just an end to the day; it was a breathtaking spectacle. The film held up a mirror, revealing how little I truly appreciated the simple wonders around me and the quiet dreams I carried within. It was a gentle, powerful wake-up call.

I LOVED this movie. The performances were deeply authentic and moving, the cinematography painted scenes of stunning beauty, and the unfolding of each character felt like peeling back layers of truth. It's a masterclass in storytelling that resonates on a visceral level.

This is absolutely one of those essential films - a cinematic experience you MUST seek out, a poignant reminder to cherish the fleeting, beautiful moments before they, and we, are gone.