RED ROCKET
****
Director: Sean Baker
Screenwriters: Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch
Principal cast:
Simon Rex
Bree Elrod
Suzanna Son
Brenda Deiss
Judy Hill
Ethan Darbone
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 130 mins.
Australian release date: 6 January 2022.
Writer/director Sean Baker’s films specialise in focussing on the disenfranchised poor of the USA, those who will never get the benefits nor acquire the wealth promised by ‘The American Dream’; he feels their pain but also sees their pride in surviving the lack of opportunity that is their daily lot. He’s covered transgender sex workers in Tangerine and single mothers raising families in budget motels in The Florida Project, his two most recent movies. Now, in Red Rocket, he and his regular co-writer Chris Bergoch examine the life of a down-and-out ex-porn star who returns to his hometown with almost nothing but the clothes on his back after an absence of 17 years. He’s an unfailingly optimistic guy but the source of his happiness stems from the fact that he doesn’t give a damn about anyone other than himself. Somehow, though, he’s a charmer and you can’t help but forgive him his sins. For a while, at least.
Simon Rex is a revelation as Mikey (‘Mikey Saber’ was his porn star handle), an overgrown kid who arrives in the Gulf Coast town of Texas City covered in bruises with barely a dime to his name. He immediately turns up at his ex’s rundown place begging for a place to sleep but Lexi (Bree Elrod) and her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss) are up to his scams and will only let him stay if he gets a job, which is easier said than done when your CV has an almost two-decade hole in it. The ever-resourceful Mikey doesn’t let that stop him, however, and soon he’s dealing marijuana to the locals and making enough money to pay Lexi a month’s rent in advance. When he meets 17-year-old Raylee, aka ‘Strawberry’ because of her red hair (Suzanna Son), at a nearby donut shop he is immediately attracted to her but he also sees an opportunity - if he can convince her to move to LA with him and work in ‘adult’ movies, he’ll be able to ride the gravy train all the way to the bank. All he has to do is walk away from Lexi once again, having inveigled his way back into her life, but Lexi isn’t going to let that happen without exacting her pound of flesh.
Red Rocket is set in 2016, the year that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. While that’s not a major plot point, the glimpses of election-related material serve to heighten the message that Mikey is a bit of a grifter who lies easily and will do and say whatever it takes to get what he wants. In other words, he’s Trumpian. Simon Rex is utterly believable and he manages to make Mikey oddly likable as the fast-talking scammer who’s certainly not stupid, just work-shy, but suffers from thinking he’s the smartest man in the room when in reality he’s an immature jackass who’s never grown up. The supporting cast is fantastic, many of them amateurs - look out in particular for Judy Hill and Brittney Rodriguez as a pot-dealing mother and daughter, and Brenda Deiss as Lil.
Drew Daniels’ 16 mm. cinematography gives the Texan locations a grainy, almost overexposed look, the widescreen images capturing the harsh light and open spaces of the Gulf Coast town. Like a lot of films today, it could have done with a sharper edit but being a little too long won’t spoil your overall enjoyment. Rex should really be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in Red Rocket but one suspects that the risqué subject matter will keep the judges at bay. This is a film for lovers of adult cinema… no, not that kind.
Screenwriters: Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch
Principal cast:
Simon Rex
Bree Elrod
Suzanna Son
Brenda Deiss
Judy Hill
Ethan Darbone
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 130 mins.
Australian release date: 6 January 2022.
Writer/director Sean Baker’s films specialise in focussing on the disenfranchised poor of the USA, those who will never get the benefits nor acquire the wealth promised by ‘The American Dream’; he feels their pain but also sees their pride in surviving the lack of opportunity that is their daily lot. He’s covered transgender sex workers in Tangerine and single mothers raising families in budget motels in The Florida Project, his two most recent movies. Now, in Red Rocket, he and his regular co-writer Chris Bergoch examine the life of a down-and-out ex-porn star who returns to his hometown with almost nothing but the clothes on his back after an absence of 17 years. He’s an unfailingly optimistic guy but the source of his happiness stems from the fact that he doesn’t give a damn about anyone other than himself. Somehow, though, he’s a charmer and you can’t help but forgive him his sins. For a while, at least.
Simon Rex is a revelation as Mikey (‘Mikey Saber’ was his porn star handle), an overgrown kid who arrives in the Gulf Coast town of Texas City covered in bruises with barely a dime to his name. He immediately turns up at his ex’s rundown place begging for a place to sleep but Lexi (Bree Elrod) and her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss) are up to his scams and will only let him stay if he gets a job, which is easier said than done when your CV has an almost two-decade hole in it. The ever-resourceful Mikey doesn’t let that stop him, however, and soon he’s dealing marijuana to the locals and making enough money to pay Lexi a month’s rent in advance. When he meets 17-year-old Raylee, aka ‘Strawberry’ because of her red hair (Suzanna Son), at a nearby donut shop he is immediately attracted to her but he also sees an opportunity - if he can convince her to move to LA with him and work in ‘adult’ movies, he’ll be able to ride the gravy train all the way to the bank. All he has to do is walk away from Lexi once again, having inveigled his way back into her life, but Lexi isn’t going to let that happen without exacting her pound of flesh.
Red Rocket is set in 2016, the year that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. While that’s not a major plot point, the glimpses of election-related material serve to heighten the message that Mikey is a bit of a grifter who lies easily and will do and say whatever it takes to get what he wants. In other words, he’s Trumpian. Simon Rex is utterly believable and he manages to make Mikey oddly likable as the fast-talking scammer who’s certainly not stupid, just work-shy, but suffers from thinking he’s the smartest man in the room when in reality he’s an immature jackass who’s never grown up. The supporting cast is fantastic, many of them amateurs - look out in particular for Judy Hill and Brittney Rodriguez as a pot-dealing mother and daughter, and Brenda Deiss as Lil.
Drew Daniels’ 16 mm. cinematography gives the Texan locations a grainy, almost overexposed look, the widescreen images capturing the harsh light and open spaces of the Gulf Coast town. Like a lot of films today, it could have done with a sharper edit but being a little too long won’t spoil your overall enjoyment. Rex should really be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in Red Rocket but one suspects that the risqué subject matter will keep the judges at bay. This is a film for lovers of adult cinema… no, not that kind.