FLUKE 1995
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
3 :-( :-( :-( for an unhappy life as a dog
Directed by Carlo Carlei. Cast Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew Modine, Nancy Travis, Eric Stoltz, Max Pomeranc, Ron Perlman Written by Carlo Carlei, James Carrington, James Herbert (novel).
When a puppy starts having visions of being a late husband, a departed father and an ex-corporate manager, I begin to worry. Puppies have enough problems of their own, without having to deal with the emotional wranglings of an unbalanced past life. This movie is pure reincarnation propaganda. One descends the chain of evolution if bad, and ascends if not so bad. So we can assume from this precept that this homeless pup, was once a bad little boy now become canine.
Matthew Modine, devoted husband, loving father and troubled business man dies in a motor vehicle accident. He is now "Fluke", a mongrel dog who remembers his past. He finds his family again (Nancy Travis and Max Pomeranc) and worms his way back into their hearts; spending the time he never had with his son, and staring longingly at his widowed wife in the bathroom. When his best friend and ex-business partner (Eric Stoltz) threatens to take away his family, he bites him. This is before he realises that he is to blame for his own death, and comes to a decision that he must leave his past as a man behind, if he is too have any fulfillment as a dog.
If all this dog logic and philosophy is starting to get on your nerves - you don't stand alone. Reincarnation stories have been done to death, and this play for "Ghost" sympathisers is no exception. I say let this dead man rest peacefully in his grave, and don't humiliate him by bringing him back as a dog.
The final scene is that of crippled "Fluke" (another car accident), hobbling through fields of wheat in eager anticipation of adventures that await him. My advice for this stray, accident prone dog is to learn to observe oncoming traffic, or next time being a goldfish would not be too severe a fate.
So if it makes you feel any better, that your pet canine, feline or fish is perhaps your beloved husband, child or cranky old Aunt; then by all means let this movie guide you through the cathartic unpheaval of grief and bereavment. However, don't let your sanity or better judgement, be clouded by unrealistic expectations, that these animals are perhaps the embodiment of your once great love. The disappointment that follows can only be earth shattering.
There's nothing "Flukey" about dying and ending up as a mongrel dog, if anything, like much of this movie, it's sheer bad luck.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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