He talks Lexi’s weirdo neighbor Lonnie (played to perfection by local chef Ethan Darbone) into driving him around, and then lands a job selling weed for local queenpin Leondria (who Baker first noticed as a striving restaurateur in Roberto Minervini’s documentary “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”).īut things don’t really turn around until he sees the girl working behind the counter at the Donut Hole in front of the refineries, where it stands out like an oasis on the lip of hell. Mikey is a larger-than-life suitcase pimp whose origin story probably involves Bradley Cooper’s character from “Silver Linings Playbook” stepping into the same telepod with Howie Bling and Tim Robinson, and he never stops working the angles. It seems that’s all he’s ever done with anyone’s feelings, or will ever be able to do. But what starts as “just a shower and a place to crash” soon turns into “let me sleep on the couch semi-permanently if I pay $200 a week.” And when Mikey inevitably worms his way back into Lexi’s everything and begins to sense that she might want him to stick around, our boy leverages her feelings for his own gain. Lexi and Lil might kill him themselves before Mikey even gets that far. Mikey is not one of those people.įrom the moment he starts banging on the door of the house where his estranged wife Lexi (theater actress Bree Elrod) still lives with her no-nonsense mother Lil (Brenda Deiss, a phenomenal local discovery who Baker spotted outside of a Porta Potty), it’s clear that Mikey will choke to death if he stays in Texas City for a minute longer than it takes him to get back on his feet. Some people can survive in an environment like that. It’s a story about people who are stuck in a purgatory that’s older than time itself. “Red Rocket” may be set in the months leading up to the 2016 election - a clever move that allows Baker and co-writer Chris Bergoch to borrow Trump symbology without having to deal with COVID - but the film rejects the unavoidable nowness of the director’s recent hits. Here, Baker ditches the corporate utopia of Disney World in favor of a more rustic vision of the American Dream, exchanging the ultra-real harshness of his recent films in favor of a 16mm fuzz that combines the velvet touch of early Spielberg with the invasive eroticism of Italian exploitation (Baker cites “The Italian Connection” and “Spasmo” as specific touchstones). While “Red Rocket” continues the “Tangerine” and “ The Florida Project” filmmaker’s hot streak of unpatronizing, street-level stories about sex work in the survival economy, the movie immediately establishes a new visual approach to that familiar terrain. But Mikey isn’t leaving anyone behind so much as he’s coming back home with his tail between his legs (the words “red rocket” are never mentioned in the film, but it doesn’t seem coincidental that the phrase is slang for a dog’s erection).īaker isn’t beating a similar retreat. It begins with the blaring shriek of NSYNC’s ear-piercing masterpiece “Bye Bye Bye” as a black-eyed Mikey suffers through the long bus ride of shame from California to Texas from the “who am I here to fuck?” hedonism of the San Fernando Valley to the “why the fuck am I here?” industrial wasteland of Refinery Row. ‘The First Slam Dunk’ Review: Takehiko Inoue’s Anime Smash Is One of the Most Thrilling and Unusual Basketball Movies Ever Made And he doesn’t stop trying to weasel his way deeper into any of those things for a single minute of Sean Baker’s utterly singular and weirdly lovable “ Red Rocket,” a roman candle of a movie that wonders if America’s pathological narcissism will ever burn itself out. Into their houses into their panties into their dreams for the future that Mikey incepts into their heads for his own benefit. He’s a big-dicked, self-obsessed, hyper-opportunistic hex of a man whose puppy dog con artist schtick is so transparent that even naive teenagers can see right through it, which is exactly why people lower their guard and let him in. A24 releases the film in theaters on Friday, December 10.įormer porn star Mikey Saber ( Simon Rex) might be “blessed” - at least according to the sore underage girl he’s grooming during a post-coital chat in the flatbed of her pickup truck - but the reality of the situation is that the guy is nothing less than a living curse. Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
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