It’s also the type of performance the Golden Globes voters would have fallen over themselves to nominate and even reward. As society becomes more sensitive to the mistreatment and abuse of women, this aspect could leave many cold and unable to connect. However, the elephant in the Oscar room is the audience is witnessing the character, in essence, groom a young girl. His hilarious one-liners and frantic sparring with Bree Elrod, another awards-worthy candidate, for supporting actress, is impeccably orchestrated. Fantasy is in the air.Rex embodies “Red Rocket’s” protagonist Mikey Saber through and through, and he’s a character that you simultaneously love and hate. Here, Texas City is also an other-worldy place, almost sci-fi, the Donut Hole’s night-time neon glimmering in front of the oil refinery’s city of green and orange lights, while surrounding streetlamps flicker, the sky romantically awash with chimney smoke. It’s shot on a lovingly grainy Super 16mm by cinematographer Drew Daniels, who made Trey Edward Shults’ Waves look so spectacular, and he makes Red Rocket as warm as the Texas sun. It’s supremely propulsive, much of the time seeming like it’s just hanging out with these people, but all the while seeding things in, building up relationships and resentments, setting the stage for drama.ĭespite its lead character’s hollow heart, though, the film is an affectionate one. That’s Baker’s big magic trick, played out ingeniously here - fictional characters seem real the film feels fly-on-the-wall, but is perfectly plotted. Baker has a knack for incredible casting and he also surrounds Rex with people who feel like they’ve lived in their characters forever, despite the fact that most of them have never acted before. We have to be drawn to him so we can understand how he reels in everybody else, and we are - he is endlessly captivating, fun and funny and ridiculous. Simon Rex makes him staggeringly charismatic, even charming, providing one of the most watchable performances in, well, ever. On paper, Mikey is repellent on screen, compelling. “And then the world fucked me, what can I say?” he spits back. Lexi reminds him he’d never set foot in the town again. He thinks he’s a big shot, but no-one cares - to people here, he’s the same old scumbag he always was most of them - mostly women - don’t even bother to disguise their disdain. Now, with a pack of Viagra and a misplaced superiority complex, he’s fled back home to the city he hates, to maybe the only person left who’ll take him in. They both were, but he stayed the course, making it big in Los Angeles until things fell apart. “Ooh, there’s a dragonfly!” he responds, staring out the window, instinctively ignoring her because her information is not what he’s looking for. “Before long, it’ll be like we’re still married,” he says to ex-partner Lexi (Bree Elrod), who is very reluctantly allowing him to crash on her couch. If he ever had an attention span, it’s long gone, along with his dignity and self-awareness. He moves like a meerkat and thinks like a snake, forever scheming. He’s always craning around, always on the lookout. Simon Rex’s Mikey Saber is a twitchy creature, head held high, as if he’s rising above his own shit.
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