RED ROCKET

With 22 dollars in his pocket and a battered face, Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) stands outside his wife’s house in Texas City, a refinery town south of Houston. He spent twenty years in Los Angeles working as a porn actor; now it is over, and no one has been waiting for him – not Lexi (Bree Elrod), not her mother, not the neighbours. Mikey still talks his way into everything, sells weed for the local dealer, and meets Strawberry (Suzanna Son) at the doughnut shop, seventeen, red-haired, curious. In her he sees a way back into his old life. “Red Rocket” by Sean Baker, USA 2021, is set in the summer of 2016, with the election campaign playing on television in the background.

Baker, who had previously told stories from the margins of America in “The Florida Project”, shoots on 16mm with non-professional actors and a former rapper in the lead role, and refuses his charmer any judgement – that is left to the audience. Simon Rex’s performance was widely honoured. It premiered in competition at Cannes in 2021. “Red Rocket” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2021.

Shown at the 2021 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2021 · Film Archive