David Lynch Short Hits Netflix, Features The Director Interrogating A Monkey

It's been some time since director David Lynch brought Twin Peaks: The Return to Showtime. The filmmaker has kept relatively quiet since then, but today is his birthday, and he actually has a present to give us in the form of a short film on Netflix.

Overnight, Netflix released What Did Jack Do?, a 17-minute black and white short film where David Lynch plays a detective interrogating a monkey who is being questioned about possibly committing a murder. Before you ask: no, this isn't just David Lynch asking questions to a monkey that sits in silence and looks adorable in response to the questions. The monkey talks, and as you've already guessed, it's pretty freakin' weird.

For some reason, the interrogation takes place inside a diner at a train station. It has the style of an old film noir, the kind of classic crime thriller where you can hear the audio track crackling. Lynch plays the detective, while an unsettling human voice comes from the monkey Jack with the animal's mouth moving in a manner not unlike the Dr. Dolittle movies starring Eddie Murphy.

Unfortunately, there's no indication as to who is doing the voice of Jack since the credits only like Jack Cruz as playing the monkey, as if the monkey was a real person. That's a shame, because towards the end of the film, Jack has a musical interlude. That's right, Jack sings during this criminal interrogation.

There's no trailer to provide you with better context for what this short is like. But suffice it to say, even if there was, you really must see it to believe it.

This isn't the first time people have seen David Lynch's short film though. After being shot in 2016, the film played David Lynch's Festival of Disruption in New York City back in 2018, as well as some other limited engagements at festivals and whatnot. But this is the first time it's been widely available for the viewing public to see.

As for what this means for David Lynch's future at Netflix, we're not sure. Will we occasionally see more short films like this from the filmmaker? Could there be more movies with Jack the monkey? Has Netflix brought Lynch into the fold to give him a home for any future projects he might have in mind? These are just some of the questions we have. Stay tuned.