After “Tangerine” and “The Florida Project,” Sean Baker cements his status as one of the best working American directors today with “Red Rocket,” a down-and-dirty ride into the Trumpian American fringes of Texas. It’s one of the very best movies to have screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Simon Rex plays has-been porn star Mikey Saber, who returns homeless and without money to his native Texas to get his mojo back, literally and figuratively. He knocks on the door of ex-wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and his mother-in-law, but greeted with a nasty “Why are you here?” He’s low on money, and wants to crash with the two unemployed women who spend most of their days watching trashy daytime TV. There’s a clear indication that he’s abandoned them in the past, but his promise of contributing to rent and groceries by selling weed on the streets makes them reluctantly accept his proposition.
Mikey purely works on charm and it is quite clear he’s an expert at hustling his way into just about any situation, using his charismatic personality and talents with the ladies, he wanders around this low-rent town, interacting with the eccentric locals (most of which non-professional actors). His gaze finally settles towards a girl named Strawberry (newcomer Suzanna Son), a freckled 17-year-old who works at a donut shop . Putting the moves on the teenager, he sweet talks his way to her affection, slowly drawing the adorable girl into having sex with him.
Their relationship gets more intense and Mikey begins plotting his return to the porn industry in Los Angeles, with Strawberry in mind. He believes she can be the next Sasha Gray or Jenna Jameson. Known for casting relatively unknowns in key parts of his films, Rex (a former porn star himself) is another triumphant bit of casting from Baker. This man can sweet talk his way into just about anything, and we believe it. The energy and sense of vitality he exudes in every frame carries the film into fresh new ground.
Baker, who shot the film in Galveston during Covid, is obsessed with the sub-fringes of American society, he has a knack to portray Evocative and unusual parts of the country. The setting, characters, but, really, the entire mise-en-scene, feels alive with cinematic possibilities, creating an unpredictable nature to the entire narrative even as it somewhat falters in the final coda.
Set during the 2016 Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential election, Baker’s masterful sense of location is doubled down by the tremendous energy of his camera. Like his previous work, “Red Rocket” feels uncompromised by big studio intervention. [B+/A-]
Before practically going bankrupt, Row K had planned to release "Cliffhanger" in August 2026 on more than 3000 screens nationwide — hopefully with Vertical it hits as many theaters.