Red Rocket
Sean Baker’s latest film sees ex-pornstar Mikey Sabre return to his hometown after a twenty-year stint in LA. In a sure-to-be career reviving performance, Simon Rex’s Sabre (steady on) searches for the next hustle that will let him leave small-town Texas for good.
Red Rocket centres on ex-pornstar Mikey Saber, who returns to his home town in Texas after a successful 17-year stint working in the adult film industry in Los Angeles. He rocks up at the home of his estranged wife and mother-in-law, convincing them to let him re-enter their simple life, which revolves around watching TV, struggling to pay rent for their two-bedroom trailer-slash-home, and smoking the odd crack pipe.
Saber comes across as a loveable schemer who charismatically manipulates those around him to get what he wants: a place to stay, a car ride into town, or for another person to take the rap for a terrible crime that he’s been involved in. You know, standard stuff.
He is played by Simon Rex, who isn’t a household name, but you might recognise his face. Take a closer look – can you remember where you know him from? That’s right. Scary Movie 3.
Rex received an Instagram message from director Sean Baker out of the blue and the next day was recording a five-minute screen test on his iPhone. This confirmed Baker’s hunch that Rex would be perfect as Sabre and - upon receiving confirmation that he was now going to be the lead in a film for the first time in years - Rex drove for three days from LA to Texas to circumvent COVID air travel quarantine rules, learning the script with his then-girlfriend as they drove south. The drive was worth it; he nails the performance and is probably unfairly absent from the awards season Best Actor nomination lists. Sabre has the right amount of delusion, confidence, and neurotic energy to be fully convincing as someone who has dominated the porn industry (five AVN awards, as he keeps reminding everyone) yet managed to do something that sees him end up back in Texas City at the start of the film.
As he starts to settle back into life in Texas, Saber meets a nearly-18-year-old redhead working in the local donut shop, and he believes he has seen the future of porn. He befriends young Raylee (played with a perfect pornstar-in-the-making faux-innocence by Suzanna Son), whose nickname, Strawberry, further convinces Saber that this girl is destined for a career in the adult film business (‘she already has the name!’).
On the surface, Red Rocket is a funny, quirky film that draws on aspects of everything from Lolita to Clerks (with some classic horror movie zooms thrown in too), yet Baker’s decision to set the plot against the backdrop of a Southern industrial heartland during the 2016 US presidential election allows him to thread a subtle commentary on some of the current issues faced by working class Americans. As the third act throws in a moment completely from left field – or is that the left lane? – the film reaches a satisfactory conclusion that avoids some of the usual corner-cutting and sugar-coating that can often be found in the ending of films with unusual plot-lines.
Red Rocket nails everything it tries to do: it’s funny yet tense, has perfect pacing, and is beautifully shot against the backdrop of Texan sunshine; that Deep South heat practically oozing from the screen - or maybe the first sign of Glasgow spring sunshine outside had me hallucinating about summer.