Film
Red Rocket (18)
Dir. Sean Baker, US, 2021, 130 mins. Cast. Simon Rex, Bree Elrod, Suzanna Son.
After his con-man charisma and haphazard hustle runs dry, former adult film actor Mikey Saber returns to the small community of his Texan hometown in a meanderingly botched attempt to scam his way back into money. The audacious new film from writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine) is a darkly funny and humane portrait of a uniquely American hustler. In addition to exploring the stigma that still surrounds the adult entertainment industry, Red Rocket becomes a blackly comic drama examining trust and its abuse, exploitation and opportunity, with any distinction between the two blurred by the propulsive turbulence of Mikey’s character.
After his con-man charisma and haphazard hustle runs dry, former adult film actor Mikey Saber returns to the small community of his Texan hometown in a meanderingly botched attempt to scam his way back into money. The audacious new film from writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine) is a darkly funny and humane portrait of a uniquely American hustler. In addition to exploring the stigma that still surrounds the adult entertainment industry, Red Rocket becomes a blackly comic drama examining trust and its abuse, exploitation and opportunity, with any distinction between the two blurred by the propulsive turbulence of Mikey’s character.
