t
Cert: 18| ★★★★★

Award winning writer-director Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project) is famed for his fondness for depicting the lives of those on the fringes of American society. Here, he returns with yet another outstanding story. In it, Jewish actor, rapper and former MTV VJ, Simon Rex stars as a former porn star struggling to keep afloat in pre Trump America. Newcomers Suzanna Son and Ethan Darbone also star alongside Bree Elrod and Brenda Deiss.
Seventeen years after he left for LA, Mickey Saber (a fantastic turn by Rex), a down on his luck adult entertainment actor, has returned to his rundown Texas City neighbourhood for a fresh start.
Battered, bruised and penniless, Mickey begs his estranged wife Lexi (Elrod)) to let him stay in the home she shares with her mother Lil. Lexi and Lil reluctantly agree, but make him promise to find a job to help pay the rent.
Having failed to secure a job the traditional way, Mikey persuades a local drug dealer to give him his old job back selling weed. Mickey is soon back to his old ways when he meets and falls for Strawberry (Son, mesmerising), a 17-year-old girl who works as a server at a local donut shop. Strawberry is taken in by his charm, but Mickey has other ideas when it comes to his new teenage lover.
Baker delivers a truly outstanding piece of Americana in this deliriously sexy, silly and genuinely thrilling indie production. Playing against the background of the build-up to the 2016 presidential election — Trump’s unsettling rhetoric is seen and heard blaring out of every TV and radio — Red Rocket does a fantastic job of establishing all the elements that led to the former president’s shocking rise to power.
Just as much of the world watched in horror as Trump established himself as America’s new saviour, we observe Mickey’s feeble and very predictable manoeuvres in turning Strawberry into his own money-making project. The whole thing plays out like a slow and inevitable train-wreck —Baker takes the metaphor even further by including a literal multi vehicle pile up as a subplot —with Mikey making more enemies than friends as he attempts to inject himself into Strawberry’s life.
Baker has given us an irresistibly playful, thought-provoking and incredibly self aware production that is further elevated by a great soundtrack and an astonishing central performance courtesy of Rex. There’s a lot of talent here to keep an eye on in the future.