David Lynch’s 22 Strangest ‘Otherworld’ Characters
22. The Man In The Projection Room: Absurda
This is the one who did it. Absurda, a short film created for Cannes Film Festivals 60th anniversary in 2007, is an excellent condensed version of many themes exhibited in Lynchs work as a whole. Its abstract narrative revolves around several characters solely identified by their off-screen voices, but it is the only figure to actually appear in the frame that stands out the most. The Man In The Projection Room, who seems to be a director, is the latest in a long line of directors portrayed in Lynchs films. However, where Mulholland Drives Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) and Bob Brooker (Wayne Grace) and Inland Empires Kingsley Stewart (Jeremy Irons) are inept and easily manipulated figures, Absurdas character is completely in control. He terrifyingly recites what appears to be the tale of a murder through a series of apparently unrelated abstract and blurry images on the screen on which he appears. As he speaks the events seem to unfold, as if he himself is willing them into being. Absurda is a tribute to cinemas emotive and narrative power, and The Man In The Projection Room seems to be Lynchs portrayal of his own role as a cinematic artist controlling the fates of his characters.
