As Middleburg Film Festival approaches, there’s one movie at the top of my must-see list. Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, his followup to my favorite film of 2017, The Florida Project, is another exploration of America’s marginalized. And while that might not sound like a lot of fun, Baker’s films always are even as they are also incredibly insightful.
Simon Rex stars as the titular washed-up porn star who returns to his Texas roots where he’s not exactly received warmly. The question is whether he can keep walking the path of the angels, or…well, not.
The film made its world premiere at Cannes where it competed for the Palme d’Or, and has been making the festival circuit ever since. Like I said, it’ll be at Middleburg next week (You should get tickets) and I’m hyped.
Red Rocket opens in theaters on December 3rd and that date is no coincidence. A24 clearly has awards hopes behind this one.
