If you’ve popped onto Netflix these past few days, you may have seen something called What Did Jack Do, with a thumbnail image featuring a monkey.

It piqued my interest, and I dabbled.

The good news is you’re not over-committing because it’s a 17-minute short from the mind of David Lynch, described by many as one of the most important directors of the modern era.

It was actually shot in 2016, but debuted on Netflix earlier in the week on the director’s 74th birthday.

If you also choose to dabble, you’re looking at 17 minutes of Lynch interrogating a talking monkey in a train carriage.

According to Mashable, “the film was written, directed, and edited by Lynch himself. Along with a small crew, he also did the sound editing, set design, and assisted with set construction”.

You could say he was heavily involved.

For those who want to know exactly what the monkey is being interrogated about, we head to Decider:

A monkey sits in a train station. His name is Jack Cruz. He’s wearing a smart — but not too smart — suit and waiting too long for a cup of coffee. A detective (Lynch) pulls up a chair across from him.

“You know anything about birds, Jack?” the detective asks in a calm, mannered tone. “You’ve been seen with chickens. Associating with chickens!” he accuses.

This is a problem, as a chicken turned up dead, and the evidence points a paw directly at Jack.

Saying anything more would be akin to ruining the short, really.

What we can do is show you a clip of Jack, the monkey, busting out a show tune:

Fans of the acclaimed director’s work can rest easy knowing Decider called it “most definitely noir, rich with delicious Lynchisms”, adding that “it is wonderful that it exists”.

The Guardian gave it four stars, calling it “pure, surreal style”.

That’s all we will say about that.

[sources:mashable&decider]