In life, we run into people of all varieties. Some are nicer than others, some smarter than others, but everyone just wants their piece of the pie. In chasing success, some people take a path that’s more morally questionable than the route that the average person would take, not caring about who they hurt or take advantage of on their way there. A new film set in a downtrodden part of Texas explores the underbelly of one industry where the vulnerable are regularly targeted.
In Red Rocket, we’re introduced to Mikey Saber (Simon Rex), a former porn star who finds himself down on his luck and back in his hometown of Texas City, Texas where he’s shown up on the doorstep of his estranged wife and former porn co-star Lexi (Bree Elrod) who lives with her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss). After begging for a place to say, Mikey is soon on the job hunt before his porn past and lack of job history leads to him selling weed for old neighborhood acquaintance Leondria (Judy Hill) and her daughter June (Brittney Rodriguez). Soon, Mikey meets Strawberry (Suzanna Son), a high schooler who works at a doughnut shop who thinks herself wise beyond her years and yearns to leave Texas City. Enamored with the young girl, Mikey starts a plan to whisk Strawberry back to LA into the porn industry so he can return to the success he once thought he had.
Director Sean Baker has become known for his signature style of storytelling where he transports his audience into the raw, uncompromising world that his characters inhabit, usually an underrepresented, underserved community that the larger American society prefers to set to the side and forget exists for the majority of the time. Red Rocket is no exception to this rule, but it does differ slightly in that it is presented more comedically than his previous efforts, despite its being a portrait of a skeevy man engaging in seriously despicable behavior. But, if humanizing the parts of society unfairly categorized as its “dregs” is the oeuvre of Baker, then doesn’t it make all the more sense to depict a manipulative predator as a somewhat charming man that someone could pass by on the street or have a passing conversation with at a coffee shop without being the none the wiser of the things he’s done in his life?
There are certainly some elements of Mikey’s life that garner some sympathy, his desire to leave his depressed hometown in order to make a name for himself elsewhere and his determination to do so. Its Mikey’s efforts that include swindling others out of money and resources, and grooming a young teenage girl into becoming a porn star so that he may use her sex work in order to reestablish himself in the porn industry that turn him from charmer to miscreant. Baker handles the mixed bag well employing plenty of comedy in his characterization of Mikey where his general plans that take disgustingly take advantage of others are masked by his disarming lovable loser personality, smooth talk, and energetic style. It makes for a film that takes a character and subject matter that would normally be hard to swallow and repackages it into something entertaining that audiences can become invested in, even if they aren’t necessarily rooting for the protagonist. Simon Rex further enhances this with a magnetic performance that perfectly encapsulates the disaffecting creep that Mikey is at his core. Rex exudes a certain charm mixed in with the detestable nature of Mikey that makes him an interesting yet complicated watch.
Bree Elrod and Suzanna Son also offer quality performances as Mikey’s love interests with Elrod completely transforming herself into a sympathetic and hilarious woman who has been run through the ringer by a con artist but is holding out hope for love. Son is convincing as a teenage girl who displays the dangerous premature self assuredness that is common in teens, pulling the audience is as they hope against hope that she’ll wake up and see what’s happening. She even gets to show off her singing chops in a scene.
Baker’s trademark social commentary isn’t completely removed from Red Rocket however, despite the slight shift in tonal style. Amidst the hustle of Texas City’s residence and the veneer of poverty that Mikey’s circle inhabits, the 2016 Presidential election plays out in the backdrop, with newscasts of the campaign playing on televisions throughout the film as the characters live their lives. Despite its consistent presence on their screens, none of the characters seem too interested in the hotly contended election, anymore than the candidates seem focused on them. The dynamic serves as a subtle piece of social commentary on the co-existence of two completely different and separate worlds, both ignoring one another due to their realities seeming so disparate. One of the most consequential elections in American history is just…there for these characters as they live out their lives one day at a time, trying to survive as best they can, for better or worse. The politicians onscreen speak at them, but not to them, a perfect allegory for the worlds Baker explores in his career.
Red Rocket is a bit of a departure for Sean Baker and while his examination of oft ignored segments of American society remains, the film loses a bit of the heft present in his previous efforts as it leans toward pure entertainment rather than social examination. While it is largely interesting, it does meander slightly in the second act and may leave some wondering just why they’re watching and what the film is trying to say. Although it’s feels less entertainingly engaging that Tangerine or socially penetrating than The Florida Project, Red Rocket does have many genuinely funny moments and a talented, engaging cast led by Simon Rex. Red Rocket is a decent enough black comedy that will provide some laughs and a look at a life people wish they could pretend doesn’t exist.
Image: A24
