I
remember a professor once saying that you shouldn’t use a question in an
advertisement. You run the risk of
prompting people to tune out. “Do you
need cash now?” If the person doesn’t,
they’re not going to listen to the rest of what you have to say.
I’ve
found that this isn’t always the case with movie titles. If used properly, they can make for a great
hook. Who is Jack? What’s so bad that we need to know what he
did? Seeing the title ask what Jack did
makes you want to look at the description.
Jack,
if you’re wondering, is a capuchin monkey.
He’s being interviewed by a homicide detective, called simply Detective,
in a train station. Jack is able to talk
with a human mouth superimposed over his face.
It’s just this side of obvious.
He’s also wearing a suit.
It
might sound like a joke, but it’s played dramatically. I would say almost satirically. It plays on a lot of clichés, like talking
about the elephant in the room. (At one
point, the detective says, “You’ll not get a free lunch around here.”) There is an absurd side to it. I mean, it’s a 17-minute interview with a
monkey. And Jack is able to hold his
own.
I
think this is one of those cases where you’ll have a good sense of what to
expect. My only job is to let you know
it exists in case you missed it. At 17
minutes, it’s easy enough to do. I kind
of wish Netflix had more David Lynch movies available streaming. (As of this writing, it’s just this and Twin
Peaks.)
