Of course, the biggest effect that both Nolan and Flanagan are looking to impart with using non-linear narratives is putting the audience in the point of view of the character (or characters, as the case may be). “Memento” isn’t structured the way it is simply to obfuscate the plot and its details, but also to allow viewers to feel as unsure about things as Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) does at all times. In “The Life of Chuck,” each chapter is set in a different period in the life of Charles “Chuck” Krantz (played at various ages by Tom Hiddleston, Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, and Jacob Tremblay): his youth, his middle age, and his passing, in reverse order. The full power of the segment surrounding Chuck’s death, however, would be robbed if we were seeing the film in chronological order. 

Instead, as an opening segment, the emotions surrounding the characters of Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Felicia (Karen Gillan), and others can resonate harder when we’re experiencing events from their point of view. Once it’s revealed that they’re facets of Chuck existing inside his memory world within himself, and how their universe (which, again, is the real Chuck) is dying, the moment carries much more emotional, dramatic, and thematic weight than it might have in the “correct” order.

Even when that twist is revealed a third of the way through the film, “Chuck” has more surprises in store, if only because the following two segments help flesh out the interior and exterior story of this character. Seeing these small — but momentous — events in Chuck’s life feels akin to how Nolan presented the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) as not a simple and linear story but one which found the man continually torn between the secrets of the universe he unlocked and their devastating, irreversible consequences. In another biopic or character study, we’d be more likely to ascribe succinct emotions and thoughts to someone as we travel through events with them, but the non-linear approach allows for a more compelling ambiguity. “Chuck” wishes to ask whether a road not traveled is cause for regret or simply a part of fate to be embraced, and it can’t do so without using the time-bending power of cinema.

Was King, the pop-culture maven and cinephile, inspired by Nolan’s films when writing “Chuck?” The story certainly feels unique to the author, even considering his non-linearity as seen in “It.” The possibility is there. Whatever the case, it’s wonderful that Flanagan chose to keep the structure intact, as it makes the film, like Nolan’s work, feel that much more resonant, intellectual, philosophical, and, of course, moving.