Movie Review: Red Rocket
The latest desolate, yet splendidly hilarious, comedic offering from writer/director Sean Baker (whose previous works include the formidable The Florida Project [2017] and the equally impressive Tangerine [2015]), Red Rocket, paints a cynical, and often despondent view of a somewhat ubiquitous hustler in Texas trying to make the next big score.
The problem that Mikey (Simon Rex) faces however, are not the obstacles in the way of his plans to make the big score, but rather his own penchant for self-destructive and often just plain stupid behavior. As the film begins, Mikey is returning from a failed life as a porn star in California and is hoping to stay at the home of the wife (Bree Elrod) and mother-in-law (Brenda Deiss) he left behind when he moved out West. In exchange for room and board, Mikey offers to help around the house, which amounts to riding his bike (he can’t afford a car) to pick up milk and flirt with the cashier at the local market, Strawberry (Suzanna Son), who he begins a relationship with, as well as haphazardly cutting the grass when not having sex with his wife to ostensibly pay for his room and board. He also befriends a neighbor named Lonnie (Ethan Darbone) so that he doesn’t have to rely on his bicycle all the time and so that we can see just what a self-centered leech Mikey really is.
In short, there is not much to like about Mikey and it is hard to get behind him at any stage of the film. But, that’s not what the point is here. The film is set against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election and there is a constant drone of both candidates in the background whenever a television is within earshot. These moments play like harbingers of things to come, which, in hindsight are always a bit more poignant than when they’re originally playing out. With that hanging in the background, Mikey’s struggles seem to make him a sort of comical “everyman” that is doomed no matter what road he decides to travel. He simply seems destined to follow each bad decision with another.
Simon Rex in “Red Rocket.” © Drew Daniels.
In Strawberry, Mikey finds a kindred spirit that is also being suffocated by the town they live in. But, rather than recognizing their similar plight, Mikey plans to use her in yet another one of his schemes to make it, as it were. He is like a modern-day Sisyphus forever doomed to repeat the same pitiful task without ever moving forward or learning anything of consequence.
As shot by cinematographer Drew Daniels, Red Rocket sports an austere Texas-hue within its frames that makes it clear where these characters exist and exactly what their motivations might be. The editing provided by Baker himself again drives home the parallels between the chaotic events of Mikey’s life and those of the presidential election.
Although Red Rocket may feel like a bit of a letdown given the power of The Florida Project and Tangerine, it remains an excellent representation of Sean Baker’s singular and furtive voice within current American cinema, and was powerful enough to earn him a Best Director nomination from the Detroit Film Critics Society.
Mike Tyrkus
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