Fusée rouge

What a waste of time. The film totally collapses during the last thirty minutes.

Granted, it's a pretty grungy film. Nobody to like. I realize "that's" the point, but I finished it, and regretted the decision.

Basically, you should just watch "Boogie Nights." It addresses the porn industry so much more efficiently.

Simon Rex is good in the lead role. He deserves some good parts.

The ending is weird. I honestly have no idea, what actually happened.

The production is low-budget, and technically, handled well.

But overall, the whole thing feels really "empty." I was expecting more nuance.

A disappointment.

Red Rocket was mostly a psychological horror experience for me personally since I am a porn performer of 12 years and related to WAY TOO MUCH with main character Mikey Saber. For brief moments, I was wondering if Sean Baker had been lurking my career and was pulling details from it, but, realistically I know that's VERY unlikely. That aside, I am very confident that I'll never be on Mikey Saber's level (so low) otherwise.

Mikey Saber is a fully despicable lead character. This is definitely one of "those" movies. There aren't really ANY characters that are quite likable - each one only adds to the pileup of utter discomfort. To me, that's this film's primary strength - it is extremely discomforting and remains consistently throughout it's rather lengthy runtime (perhaps a little too long considering it is nearly plotless and there's really no conflict until the final leg of the film). Simon Rex does a great job with the character and definitely puts in the strongest performance in the movie. Everyone else is sufficient but not super memorable (well, ok, Suzanna Son is really memorable too).

The movie spends a lot of time focusing on Saber's efforts in "making it happen" with an underage girl. Things go further than I expected and it certainly adds to the discomfort and the "cringe value" of the movie, which I can only imagine is what Baker wanted to make people feel. I am about 100% sure this element of the movie will rub a lot of people the wrong way, and may cause some "controversy" or general distaste towards the movie.

The movie is not immensely funny but it does have plenty of legitimately comedic moments sprinkled throughout. I had my chuckles here and there, but out of the entire row of people sitting behind me, I don't think I heard a single one of them make a peep once - that in itself was kind of disturbing.

It definitely seems like Sean Baker either did his research or simply has always been paying attention to the porn industry. I did enjoy all the legit name drops and industry references. "Remember the time Kristina Rose almost broke it off?" In the end, the movie really made me just wonder what made Sean Baker feel inspired to tell THIS story specifically. It does kind of feel like a pretty odd way to follow up The Florida Project, which seemed to have so much heart in it - it was so endearing. This one mostly feels seedy through and through. I didn't really find that it had much that would ever make someone want to watch it more than once, nor did I find much of a message in it, but I did like it for its commitment to being exactly what it is - and that's a daring, trashy, absolutely cringe-inducing movie that makes straight male pornstars seem like the scum of the earth.

I watched the movie because the trailer mentioned it would be about porno. Then as I watched the movie I realized; the trailer did not say it was going to be about porno it just said it was about a porn star.

It's kinda funny cause if I'm not mistaken, the movie's lead, Simon Rex had a promising career as one of the icons of an MTV generation until he got caught in a porn scandal of his own. I feel like that may have had something to do with director, Sean Baker picking Rex and I also think this had something to do with Rex being so good as Mike, a male porn star with a long career filled with many highs and glories, but fell apart really fast and with nothing to fall back on he comes back to a place he never thought he come back to because he had no choice.

As a movie, I can compare Red Rocket to a roller-coaster ride. It's a nice exciting climb all the way to the top and when it starts going down its fun, but the overall free fall is actually lackluster.

The problem here is that the movie is a character piece. This film relies heavily on Simon Rex playing Mike and our focus on who is character is, to the point that the story being told is sacrificed for it. The importance of the movie is watching Rex play this character, and in that portrait of the character we got a completed movie, but the way the story was laid out. It does not feel complete.

I do love the rawness of the film. Rex is the only actor I know by name and the fact that I know him at all as an actor ages me. It's possible that other actors in this movie did things I'm unfamiliar with but as far as I'm concern it looks like Sean Baker just used the random folks, he found in the small Texas town this movie's about.

Even if I'm a bit iffy about how the story stops short, I'm satisfied with this movie because it was an interesting story that stayed interesting from beginning to end.

Directed by Sean Baker (same guy behind The Florida Project), Red Rocket is a gritty, funny slice-of-life about Mikey Saber, a washed-up adult film star who slinks back to his Texas hometown like a raccoon in a leather jacket. Simon Rex, who you might remember from his goofy MTV/Vine days, kills it in this role - charming, pathetic, infuriating, and somehow still magnetic. It's like watching a human car crash in slow motion, and you just can't look away. The movie doesn't follow a traditional plot so much as it vibes its way through Mikey's manipulative antics and awkward reunions - with his estranged wife and a teenage girl named Strawberry, who might just be his ticket back to fame. (Yeah. It gets uncomfortable. So.) What makes Red Rocket stand out is how real it feels. Baker uses real locations, a lot of non-actors, and that washed-out, sunburnt cinematography that makes everything feel lived-in and sticky. Like you can almost smell the dollar store candles and fried dough. It's not a movie for everyone - it's messy, icky, and the main character is a disaster. But it's also sharp, satirical, hilarious, and unafraid to go there. If you like your movies polished and heroic, run far away. But if you're into raw, unfiltered storytelling with a big side of "what did I just watch?" - then Red Rocket might just rocket to the top of your indie faves list. My verdict? One sleazy thumb way, way up.

Sean Baker is quickly rising to the top of my favourite directors list. His movies are so quiet and unassuming, yet they linger in my mind for days and days.

He tells stories about real people living in real America that resonate against fluffy films with forced morals and shiny stars who live in perfect houses.

Red Rocket tells the truth of a seedy character who is both charismatic (to those who are naive enough and needy enough to buy into him) and repugnant in his self-serving narcissism.

Not much happens in this film but I was not bored for a second of it. The characters are so well played and well conceived it is riveting.

Bravo Mr. Baker! Please keep making brilliant movies.