I think Mike wife broke him, finally. Her comment about being a pimp really hit him hard. And I think the tears reflected that because he knew he could not repeat what he had done to his wife before again to strawberry. I guess it depends on whether you are optimistic or cynical. If you're optimistic, like myself, you would believe that Mike learned something and made a change if you are cynical then Mike does not learn anything, does not care about anything, and continues the same cycle again
I just watched Red Rocket and have a different interpretation of the ending. While it’s definitely a fantasy sequence, I took the use of “Bye Bye Bye” playing in reverse to mean that Mikey will continue the same cycle as before in his life. He’s not “at the top of his game”, but right back at the bottom. The song is used 4 times in the movie: 1) the ride into town 2) when strawberry sings for him 3) quoted by his wife when she kicks him out 4) outside of strawberry’s house for their escape, but played in reverse. I took that the use of the song was in moments where his life was transitioning. By playing it backwards, it didn’t mean anything was moving forward and that Mikey would be repeating his cycle of “starting over”, regardless of if he took Strawberry to LA or not. That is after all what he did with his wife (per various stories he tells Lonnie about the ways he can tell what a woman lets you know that she’s into certain “things”). So I see it more of a sad, depressing story of an old, sad sack loser adult entertainer who’s had his best run. All he can do now is repeat the cycle over again, that will leave him right back to the same place he’s in.
He's banging his daughter. There's the moment when Mikey and Raylee stare into each others eyes from across the counter. Their features are VERY similar. By playing the song backwards, at the end, Mikey is mentally rewinding his story back to the year "Bye, Bye, Bye" came out. The year he conceived Raylee, probably in that pink house.
Some of us have dealt with people like Mikey in our lives and were able to smell him a mile away. You could see June had him figured out from the beginning, also. She was completely impervious to his charms. The movie was an excellent character study but little more. I always thought Sean Baker was an A+ director and C+ writer. I would love to see what he could do with an adaptation.
I agree that there was a lot more potential with this. The first act had me thinking it was heading towards masterpiece status, but the main character becomes a bit too exaggerated eventually to have much of an effect. Still, great visuals and dialogue.
Except he isn't really exaggerated at all, watch any documentary about the inner workings of the porn industry and you'll see it's full of disgusting predators like him who will use anyone for a quick buck but have a personality that draws the young and naïve in like a black hole. These girls get drawn in based on promises of fortune, fame, and celebrity and most only last a 3-6 months before they are used up and broken, or can't find work because most adult film makers don't want to work with the same person twice.
You can't blame Mikey for the pileup as he was a passenger and all he said was the 'exit is right there'. The driver is 100% responsible for what happens to the car and he should have just gone straight past as it wasn't safe ignoring his passenger. The only thing Mikey did wrong was not going forward as a witness, he wouldn't have got in trouble as he in no way affected the control of the car by grabbing the wheel etc. If you cannot make a decision as the driver you shouldn't be driving, blaming the passenger would result in a loss of license if I was the judge.
Like great storytellers, the director does not judge his characters but let’s them make decisions and deal with the consequences of them. Because of their poverty and environment, it becomes easy to both understand and emphasize with even the most slimy and worst choices they make as they are trying to survive.
I liked your review but I had to try to drown out that Florida project spoiler argh. I know it’s an oldy but this movie was my intro to Baker and I planned on going back and seeing his other two. Doh!
Idk when the next video will be out but itll be a meme. Notifications are messed up for me so my bad if it takes awhile for me to respond to a comment.
The dude's banging his daughter, check the time line. They probably cut the part where he recognizes her mom from the pictures in her house. Re-cut the ending too, I bet.
After two promising films, the director seems to be moving into lurid todd solondze territory .....with our antihero this time being a groomer. And the resemblance ( minus the outcome) to the Dorothy Stratton story, complete with a young girl meeting her exploiter while working in a fast food joint, can't be entirely coincidental.
I don't really understand your criticism about how it's a "missed opportunity". The movie isn't a sympathetic plea for the rural poor. It's a character study, and Mikey is an extremely compelling character. His scene with Strawberry on the Ferris wheel is excellent *because* she's naively placed her trust in a predatory person. She accepts his porn background, but she doesn't understand that he's grooming her and trying to use her as an asset.
I said it feels like an missed opportunity not that it missed its mark somehow. It wasn’t a criticism of the quality of the film rather than a yearning for some moments to have been transplanted into a different film (that isn’t me saying those moments should have been removed from the film). I fully understand that the film is a character study but like all of Sean Baker’s work it showcases struggles of those in marginalized groups.
It's just a dark comedy, there's lots of them. Raising Arizona, In Bruges, Fargo. I watch them. Seven Psychopaths. Nothing new. I'm not sure how many videos you've made but there's plenty I haven't watched. I find them interesting. Thanks.
Great review. And if you are here watching reviews, you forfeit any sympathy about exposure to spoilers for any long-previously released movies made by same director. If you have time for this, you should have already watched the other films first. I’m very thankful for the fact that this reviewer took the time to speak on the creator’s style from project to project. And how specific perspectives are important to portray to this artist. Well connected and explained.
As someone who is fascinated with poverty films, I find this one actually refreshing because the characters are white Americans. In most poverty films that I have watched, the majority are black, Latino and American Indians.
I think they missed a trick with not turning the central character around and bringing a redemptive quality to the film, also demonstrating that the poisonous psyche that LA cultivates can be reversed by removing oneself from it, and placing oneself back amongst genuine, albeit devastatingly poor, people. I think the US needs that kind of optimism right now. This film could have inspired hope but instead just drove home the very worst stereotypes that we have about Americans
the whole point of mikeys character was to not make him redeemable, sean baker said this himself. also mikey is a middle aged man having sex with a minor, thats not really something that could be redeemed. its not like he made some small mistake. i get what youre saying but i think baker was trying to make more of a point about not only sleazebags from the porn industry, but how doing stuff like that can ruin someones professional life. literally NONE of sean bakers films are optimistic about low class america so hes definitely the wrong person to be asking that from. just read his style and influences section on wikipedia. every single one of his films purposely shines a light on the unfortunately harsh reality that many americans live every day. definitely not stereotypes.
Yeah but what's with the use of the NSYNC song throughout the movie from the beginning and why play it backwards at the end? Not to mention Strawberry sings a cover of it. What's the meaning/significance?
This movie was filmed in my hometown of Texas City, TX and the surrounding areas. I drive by that strip club they went to every single day on my way to work. It was pretty cool to see Texas City be known for something other than the Texas City disaster
Love how baker basically said fu to the people who hated his previous works ending
Both movies had good endings
I think Mike wife broke him, finally. Her comment about being a pimp really hit him hard. And I think the tears reflected that because he knew he could not repeat what he had done to his wife before again to strawberry.
I guess it depends on whether you are optimistic or cynical. If you're optimistic, like myself, you would believe that Mike learned something and made a change
if you are cynical then Mike does not learn anything, does not care about anything, and continues the same cycle again
Baker really made a film about dudes that hang out around highschools lmao
Nah, Strawberry was just a different kind of woman.
@@GreenHotDogz *Girl lmao
@@GreenHotDogzshe was 17 bro
I just watched Red Rocket and have a different interpretation of the ending. While it’s definitely a fantasy sequence, I took the use of “Bye Bye Bye” playing in reverse to mean that Mikey will continue the same cycle as before in his life. He’s not “at the top of his game”, but right back at the bottom.
The song is used 4 times in the movie: 1) the ride into town 2) when strawberry sings for him 3) quoted by his wife when she kicks him out 4) outside of strawberry’s house for their escape, but played in reverse.
I took that the use of the song was in moments where his life was transitioning. By playing it backwards, it didn’t mean anything was moving forward and that Mikey would be repeating his cycle of “starting over”, regardless of if he took Strawberry to LA or not. That is after all what he did with his wife (per various stories he tells Lonnie about the ways he can tell what a woman lets you know that she’s into certain “things”).
So I see it more of a sad, depressing story of an old, sad sack loser adult entertainer who’s had his best run. All he can do now is repeat the cycle over again, that will leave him right back to the same place he’s in.
I 100% agree 👍
It's just worrisome to have a director show us the POV of a jefrey epstein mentality......that is getting into chilly psychic waters
Mikey banging is his daughter. Check the timeline.
@@TonyBasuro🤯
@@TonyBasuro🤮
He's banging his daughter.
There's the moment when Mikey and Raylee stare into each others eyes from across the counter. Their features are VERY similar.
By playing the song backwards, at the end, Mikey is mentally rewinding his story back to the year "Bye, Bye, Bye" came out. The year he conceived Raylee, probably in that pink house.
Now that's a theory I'd like to see be true 😂
wow that would be some effed up old boy shit
Wow I didn’t see it like that
She doesn’t have a dad also 😭
Some of us have dealt with people like Mikey in our lives and were able to smell him a mile away. You could see June had him figured out from the beginning, also. She was completely impervious to his charms.
The movie was an excellent character study but little more. I always thought Sean Baker was an A+ director and C+ writer. I would love to see what he could do with an adaptation.
I agree that there was a lot more potential with this. The first act had me thinking it was heading towards masterpiece status, but the main character becomes a bit too exaggerated eventually to have much of an effect. Still, great visuals and dialogue.
Except he isn't really exaggerated at all, watch any documentary about the inner workings of the porn industry and you'll see it's full of disgusting predators like him who will use anyone for a quick buck but have a personality that draws the young and naïve in like a black hole. These girls get drawn in based on promises of fortune, fame, and celebrity and most only last a 3-6 months before they are used up and broken, or can't find work because most adult film makers don't want to work with the same person twice.
You can't blame Mikey for the pileup as he was a passenger and all he said was the 'exit is right there'. The driver is 100% responsible for what happens to the car and he should have just gone straight past as it wasn't safe ignoring his passenger. The only thing Mikey did wrong was not going forward as a witness, he wouldn't have got in trouble as he in no way affected the control of the car by grabbing the wheel etc. If you cannot make a decision as the driver you shouldn't be driving, blaming the passenger would result in a loss of license if I was the judge.
Like great storytellers, the director does not judge his characters but let’s them make decisions and deal with the consequences of them. Because of their poverty and environment, it becomes easy to both understand and emphasize with even the most slimy and worst choices they make as they are trying to survive.
I liked your review but I had to try to drown out that Florida project spoiler argh. I know it’s an oldy but this movie was my intro to Baker and I planned on going back and seeing his other two. Doh!
yeah wtf was that lmao why would you just randomly ruin another movie mid 4 minute review?
Idk when the next video will be out but itll be a meme. Notifications are messed up for me so my bad if it takes awhile for me to respond to a comment.
The dude's banging his daughter, check the time line. They probably cut the part where he recognizes her mom from the pictures in her house.
Re-cut the ending too, I bet.
After two promising films, the director seems to be moving into lurid todd solondze territory .....with our antihero this time being a groomer. And the resemblance ( minus the outcome) to the Dorothy Stratton story, complete with a young girl meeting her exploiter while working in a fast food joint, can't be entirely coincidental.
I don't really understand your criticism about how it's a "missed opportunity". The movie isn't a sympathetic plea for the rural poor. It's a character study, and Mikey is an extremely compelling character. His scene with Strawberry on the Ferris wheel is excellent *because* she's naively placed her trust in a predatory person. She accepts his porn background, but she doesn't understand that he's grooming her and trying to use her as an asset.
I said it feels like an missed opportunity not that it missed its mark somehow. It wasn’t a criticism of the quality of the film rather than a yearning for some moments to have been transplanted into a different film (that isn’t me saying those moments should have been removed from the film). I fully understand that the film is a character study but like all of Sean Baker’s work it showcases struggles of those in marginalized groups.
I thought it was a good movie, and that explanation is pretty much spot on
It's just a dark comedy, there's lots of them. Raising Arizona, In Bruges, Fargo. I watch them. Seven Psychopaths. Nothing new. I'm not sure how many videos you've made but there's plenty I haven't watched. I find them interesting. Thanks.
Great review.
And if you are here watching reviews, you forfeit any sympathy about exposure to spoilers for any long-previously released movies made by same director.
If you have time for this, you should have already watched the other films first.
I’m very thankful for the fact that this reviewer took the time to speak on the creator’s style from project to project. And how specific perspectives are important to portray to this artist.
Well connected and explained.
As someone who is fascinated with poverty films, I find this one actually refreshing because the characters are white Americans. In most poverty films that I have watched, the majority are black, Latino and American Indians.
I think they missed a trick with not turning the central character around and bringing a redemptive quality to the film, also demonstrating that the poisonous psyche that LA cultivates can be reversed by removing oneself from it, and placing oneself back amongst genuine, albeit devastatingly poor, people. I think the US needs that kind of optimism right now. This film could have inspired hope but instead just drove home the very worst stereotypes that we have about Americans
the whole point of mikeys character was to not make him redeemable, sean baker said this himself. also mikey is a middle aged man having sex with a minor, thats not really something that could be redeemed. its not like he made some small mistake. i get what youre saying but i think baker was trying to make more of a point about not only sleazebags from the porn industry, but how doing stuff like that can ruin someones professional life. literally NONE of sean bakers films are optimistic about low class america so hes definitely the wrong person to be asking that from. just read his style and influences section on wikipedia. every single one of his films purposely shines a light on the unfortunately harsh reality that many americans live every day. definitely not stereotypes.
Yeah but what's with the use of the NSYNC song throughout the movie from the beginning and why play it backwards at the end? Not to mention Strawberry sings a cover of it. What's the meaning/significance?
This movie was filmed in my hometown of Texas City, TX and the surrounding areas. I drive by that strip club they went to every single day on my way to work. It was pretty cool to see Texas City be known for something other than the Texas City disaster
This was a very good movie, The acting was really good and the story intriguing.
It was trash
@@DarkCloudNC Like your opinion means something to me?
Movies should have a beginning a middle and an end, this has none. almost a good movie
so what does last of us have to do with this
THANK YOU!
I thought the 3 leads were great , but Mikey was such an awful person.
kino