HPN Hosts "Life of Chuck" Screening

By HPN Founding Director, Karen Covell

HPN got a chance to host a pre-screening of the Neon distributed film The Life of Chuck at the Grove AMC last week. It was in partnership with Grace Hill Media, which is run by my friend Jonathan Bock. He has the unique position of marketing studio films to the Christian market. He reaches Christian groups, churches, and ministries, and lets the faith-based community know about commercial films they might enjoy.

Well, our almost 150 HPN members who attended the screening gave an overwhelmingly positive response. This nonlinear Stephen King story, directed by Mike Flanagan, is full of complicated storylines, "spiritual" beliefs, and character twists. And the bottom line is that the viewer gets out of it what they filter through their own worldview. Many Christians in the audience were profoundly moved, many were challenged spiritually, and some were intrigued with seeing God in a movie that didn't preach God. And a few even thought it was worldly and New Age. To me, that's a successful film.

I believe that good art will cause a wide variety of responses — all gut-felt and all valid. That's what gets me excited about presenting a film to a group of people. The discussion afterward is rich, deep, and thoughtful. It doesn't matter if people disagree! It matters that we all experience a visceral response to a piece of art. "The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery," says Francis Bacon. And that's what happened last Thursday night.
So, as a Christian, go see The Life of Chuck and see what God reveals to you. Whatever it is, talk about it with someone else. Every time we have a conversation with another person about a truth that God has revealed to us, we move a step "further up and further in," says C.S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia. Don't be afraid to engage in culture and talk about our faith through the lens of a film, a song, a TV show, or even a video game — because it is moving you and the person you're talking to "further up and further in."