Cheap David Lynch presents... I Don't Know Jack (DVD) (Chris Leavens) Price

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interesting material about a fascinating actor
Jack Nance, the iconic figure of Eraserhead and the emotionally fragile sheriff of Twin Peaks, worked often with David Lynch and made many loyal friends in Hollywood. This documentary interviews friends and family members, and shows excerpts from well-known and lesser known works in which he acted. Interviewees include Lynch, Dennis Hopper, Nance's ex-wife and the homicide detective who worked on his case (on the accompanying featurette). One gets the impression that Jack was quite a bright man who was thoughtful and eccentric, and who attracted admiration and friendship despite his alcoholism. After an odd career, Jack was beat up outside a donut shop and received injuries that resulted in his death.

This is the first feature from director Chris Leavens, and he does a nice job. Editing is good though the movie starts very abruptly -- I thought there was a problem with the disk at first. Lighting and sound between interviews is uneven but the content is fascinating, and a vivid portrait of Nance is developed. The dvd interface is clunky. There is an accompanying web site.

Extras are just as interesting as the feature. There is a lovely photo montage set to music, crew credits, trailers, and a 21-minute featurette about questions revolving around Jack's death called 'Unsolved Homicide'. The production notes relate a strange story about how the tapes of the feature were kidnapped and held for ransom by an actress friend of Nance's.

One gets the feeling that Jack would be pleased by the continuing bizarreness of it all.

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Do You Know Jack?
"I Don't Know Jack" is the title of a documentary about actor Jack Nance. Chris Leavens and company have produced a memorial to a very interesting actor and a guy who would have needed several lives to fulfill his potential. This film sent me off on a Google search to find out more about his theatrical work (which set him up for possible starring roles in "The Graduate"-- I can imagine Jack saying, "Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"-- and "In Cold Blood").

It's hard to tell where to start; the film proper tells us about Nance's career, but the mini-feature (featuring Kimmy Robertson) about Jack's death is like something out of Twin Peaks, as is the section about how much of "I Don't Know Jack"'s footage was kidnapped and held for ransom! It's a strange world...

David Lynch, Dennis Hopper, Charlotte Stewart, Jack's brothers, Catherine Coulson and many of Jack's friends and co-workers supply the interviews, and it's a funny thing that they all feel compelled to imitate Nance's voice (Wayne Grace does the best job). Jack is obviously a guy who got under people's skin in a good way!

There are a few technical glitches-- the menu controls are sluggish, the film starts so abruptly that it looks like a mistake, and the image quality isn't always up to snuff (understandable considering the variety of video sources). But I especially liked the photo section and its cowboy-song soundtrack.

Fans of Jack Nance will laugh and cry; the DVD features interviews with friends, family and loved ones. They all agree that there was something special about him, and after having seen this film I wish I'd known Jack.