The Daily Dig: Jack Be Nimble (1993)

Brilliant acting brings a dark side of humanity to an ingestible snack in this little-known New Zealand art horror flick.

Siblings separated when they were young — one with supernatural powers — search for each other as they try to right their lives. Let’s dig into 1993’s JACK BE NIMBLE, directed by Garth Maxwell!

As I See It

With all the trash films that have become perennial cult hits, this mildly known New Zealand jewel begs for deserved attention.

With appearances in Adam Sandler comedies towards the end of her life, it’s a terrible shame that Alexis Arquette’s participation in The Surreal Life, which focused on making parodies of real people, could be the defining mainstream moment for her. There is so much talent within that human that is grossly overlooked.

A story with tons of depth and multiple layers of existential questions.

A bit of revenge fantasy for childhood abuse could be misconstrued as puerile, but it really highlights the duality of both the child role and parent role within the forced hierarchical structure. Imagine being honest with your family when things aren’t peachy instead of traumatizing a child because your work life or sex life isn’t up to par.

Or, the inverse, a child being treated with enough respect for intelligence that they can actually empathize with a parent going through an unbearably tough time.

It’s a utopia that most will have an immediate gag reflex, trying to swallow.

Closing out with reincarnation is another example of coping mechanism to deal with the pain within the walls of life.

This is a treat of quality performances and heavy emotional material.

Famous Faces

Alexis Arquette (Jack) of the famous Arquette Hollywood family (Patricia, Rosanna, David, and father Lewis) has appeared in many notable films, including Pulp Fiction and multiple Adam Sandler films: The Wedding Singer and Blended.

Of Gratuitous Nature

Dora does have a sweaty sex scene that is interrupted by the voices that invade her head.

Heartthrob

I can not get over how strong of a performance Alexis Arquette gives as Jack. Even the accent is good enough not to question, not even for a single phrase.

Ripe for a Remake

This is one of those little lost gems, and a foreign one at that, which won’t benefit from any type of re-imagining. That’s mostly because there won’t be another Alexis Arquette, but also Maxwell’s nascent directing shows a ton of artistic focus that would be hard to replicate.

Spawns

No progeny to report.

Where to Watch

The good folks at Vinegar Syndrome and Altered Innocence have released a region-free Blu-Ray with some good extras. You can stream it on Shudder or AMC+.