David Lynch drops surprise Netflix film, 'What Did Jack Do?'

March 2024 · 2 minute read

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David Lynch isn’t monkeying around, you hear?

The “Twin Peaks” director dropped a surprise short film featuring himself and a “tormented” monkey named Jack Cruz on Netflix Monday.

The 17-minute noir-themed “What Did Jack Do?” centers on a detective, played by Lynch, and his interrogation of Cruz, a murder suspect — who is, inexplicably, a Capuchin monkey.

True to Lynchian form, the grainy black and white film (shot in a similar style as his 1977 debut “Eraserhead”) takes twists and turns that sometimes defy logic, but somehow come together to make sense in the end.

Reviews are already pouring in as critics scramble to comprehend the absurdity.

“The closeups on Jack’s face and head movements contrived by Lynch and cinematographer Scott Ressler give us a bizarrely convincing sense of someone defiant, yet haunted and evasive, and also pleadingly wide-eyed,” read the Guardian’s 4-star review.

Also fitting? The surreal film was dropped on Lynch’s 74th birthday. It was written, directed and edited by Lynch, whose name is also in the credits for sound mixing, sound design, set design and writing the song “True Love’s Flame,” sung by Cruz — yes, the monkey sings. It was produced by Sabrina S. Sutherland, Lynch’s longtime collaborator.

Lynch, who directed “The Elephant Man” (1980), “Blue Velvet” (1986), and “Mulholland Dr.” (2001), recently took home an Academy Honorary Award.

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