After a 20-year career in Los Angeles in the porn industry, a man returns penniless to the small town of Texas where his former wife lives. Unable to find a job, the forty-something, also known for his dubious schemes, nevertheless still believes in his chances …
Sean Baker has established an enviable reputation over the years in the independent film world, particularly since Tangerine and The Florida Project. With Red rocket, film shortlisted for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, the American filmmaker continues his exploration, both raw and affectionate, of a world in which several of his compatriots must struggle to try to survive as they do. can.
By painting portraits of people who must weigh all possible options – including the most underground ones – to succeed in a society that leaves them little chance, he echoes the humanity of characters stuck in a brutal world. That the plot of his new feature film is set in 2016 in a lost country in Texas during the presidential campaign is not innocent. Without insisting, the filmmaker thus explains, through the tape, how the speech promising to “restore America to its glory” could as well have infiltrated the heads of voters in this part of the country.
Very lively dialogue, Red rocket is driven by the electrical performance of Simon Rex. In the role of an aging porn actor who can’t help but fall back into his old reflexes to bewitch those who circulate in his orbit, the former VJ of MTV (who also dabbled in “adult entertainment” in his young days) brilliantly modulates cold and heat. As infuriating as he is charming, he gives this antihero the tireless boost of those who always manage to get a second chance, even if everyone knows in advance that they are headed straight for implosion.
Red rocket (Red rocket is the French title of this film available only in its original version with subtitles) is playing in cinemas.
Drama
Red rocket
Sean baker
With Simon Rex, Bree Elrod, Suzanna Son
2:08