Red Rocket | Dir: Sean Barker | ★ ★ ★ ★
Writer / director Sean Barker has made some memorable films. Starlet (2012) centered on an unusual friendship between a porn star and an elderly retiree. Tangerine (2015), which was shot on iPhones, was about a transgender sex worker in Hollywood. The Florida Project (2018), filmed in slums next to Disney World, and told of a motel manager trying to help a struggling single mother.
Red Rocket introduces us to Mikey Saber (former model Simon Rex) who gets off the bus in a small industrial town on the Gulf Coast of Texas. There’s a confidence about him as he strolls past the oil refinery belching out pollution. This 40-something guy has just lost his long-term employment in the adult film industry and, being homeless and penniless, has to rely on his charm to survive.
This is why he has come to his ex-wife Lexi (Bree Elrod), who used to be in the porn industry with him. Lezi certainly hasn’t aged as well as her former partner and lives with her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss) who has a diet of cigarettes and trashy television shows. Mikey convinces her he wants their relationship to get back on track but Lil knows he is a lying sleaze-bag and fairly soon he has charmed many people – to their detriments.
As the television shows the 2016 Republican Convention where Trump was chosen as the Republican candidate for the presidential election, it is difficult to decide whether the film is a comedy or a tragedy. Maybe there are parallels – Mickey is so charismatic and thinks he is God’s gift to women while taking advantage of every scam possible and revealing himself to be an incredibly despicable person. Not that he can see that!
Mickey takes advantage of the neighbour Lonnie (Ethan Darbone) because he has a car and Mickey needs to go places. He also needs someone to tell his tales of how fantastic he is, but when disaster strikes, Mickey is nowhere to be seen and Lonnie is left to collect the consequences of Mickey’s actions.
Then there’s Strawberry (Suzanna Son), the 17-year-old who works at the donut shop across the road from the refinery. Another person who Mickey can brag to about his connections with the rich and famous and the spectacular life he can offer her in Los Angeles.
It is almost voyeuristic to watch this larger than life hustler who seems deluded by his own enchanting stories. The people who get roped in by this anti-hero don’t have much and Mickey lets them get a glimmer of the great American dream. Fascinating and terrifying at the same time.
Lezly Herbert
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