FYC: Simon Rex for Best Actor
Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 9:21PM 
Ever since the project premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Red Rocket's leading man has been praised by critics and spotlighted as a potential Best Actor contender. Perhaps more accurately, Simon Rex has been described as one of those cases where a performance should be in contention even if their chances are null. Indeed, Rex seems to have been forgotten by awards voters as the season progresses, even though reviews still sing his praises. Now that Sean Baker's latest movie is hitting theaters, maybe the actor can get his moment in the sun. While the man's turn as a washed-up porn star could have been nothing more than stunt casting, Rex transcends such pitfalls. His take on one of the year's most loathsome characters is Oscar-worthy…
Mikey Saber is out of luck when we first meet him. His career in the adult film industry has lost steam as he fell into middle age and fresh bruises littered over his body illustrate all the trouble he's currently running away from. The escape path took him from Hollywood to Texas, his small hometown where some acquaintances still live. Namely, that's where Lexi's at, his wife and former porn star who's not happy to see her husband back, not at all. It's a miracle he convinces her to let him shack up on her sofa for a while, though we soon find out Mikey's got a knack for convincing people to act against their interests. If nothing else, he can annoy others until they relent out of a simple wish to have peace and quiet.
In no time, he's the new roommate of Lexi and her mother, Lil. Unable to find a proper job and unwilling to help around the house as payment for his keep, Mikey starts selling weed to factory workers and rudderless youths. One day, when trying to appease Lexi and Lil, he takes them to a local donut shop, and, amid the sugary treats, this sleazy dude finds a new face to obsess over. She's Strawberry, the cashier at the donut place, a high school senior with cute freckles, fiery red hair, and a trouble-seeking attitude. Just as easily as he convinced Lexi to take him in, Mikey has found a way into Strawberry's life, stringing a web of lies to seduce her while planning on turning the girl into a new porn star.
As much as he's attracted to her, Mikey's interest in Strawberry is driven more by mercenary intentions rather than simple libido. Indeed, what makes Simon Rex's performance so special is how he's able to balance out the overt greasiness of Mikey, something that's often hilarious, with an insidious subtext so vile it could have easily overwhelmed the movie. Baker's previous films often found tenderness within characters other pictures would have flattened, reduced to stereotypes and cartoonish caricature. They were exercises in cinematic humanism that seemed motivated by a will to see the best in people. Whether that was the cineaste's intention or not, that's what those films read as.
Centered around Rex's Mikey, Red Rocket also contemplates vociferous fools and marginalized folk searching for something more profound, something hidden. However, when regarding its protagonist, there's no tenderness beneath the bravado. Instead, there's inhumanity hiding in the shadows, a pang of insatiable hunger for exploitation that turns everyone around him into an economic commodity. From his very first scene, Rex has the anti-charisma of a snake oil salesman down pat, embodying the kind of hucksterism cockiness that makes Mikey a person that's entertaining to watch. The pathetic glee with which he clowns around is an intersection of physical comedy and cringe at their finest. However, there are hints of deep malignancy percolating in the background.
Rex overplays the comedic routine and underplays the character's darker side to great effect, rendering the latter through bouts of inexpression. When nobody's looking, Mikey's elastic face settles down into a mask of cold calculation. There's no better example of this shift than a brief scene at night, right after the porn star turned drug dealer has said goodbye to his teen girlfriend. He has convinced her he lives in a fancy part of town, regularly asking to be dropped off in front of an expensive suburban home with a manicured lawn. This particular night, after the car is out of sight and his smile has melted away, a surprising confrontation forces Mikey to think on his feet. It's astounding how quickly Rex changes gears, going from emptiness to genuine shock that soon gets overplayed in an attempt at charming his way out of trouble.
Nevertheless, such fleeting showcases of actorly flexibility weren't what convinced me that Rex's performance was one of the year's best. It happens later in the story and involves no switching around of personas. In contrast, it's all about that black hole inside Mikey and how it grows until it swallows the film. Strawberry offers to play her beau a song when lazing about in post-coital mellowness. Neither Mikey nor the audience has seen this side of her before, prompting mutual surprise as she starts singing a sweet, gentle cover of "Bye, Bye, Bye." One would expect the boyfriend to, at the very least, feign interest in her musical talents, to spout off some platitude or insincere compliment. Maybe smile at this young woman's devotion, the sheer beauty of her voice.
As played by Simon Rex, Mikey does none of those things. He merely lays on the bed with a closed-off expression that the camera examines in a slow push-in. As the music continues and the beauty of the moment becomes impossible to shake off, the void of Mikey fills up with another emotional tenor, one that disturbs, almost frightens. In that intimate instant, he almost looks angry. While he can make money from selling Strawberry's body, her singing isn't something he's equipped to monetize. Moreover, this show of talent proves that she's better than him, that she has something that's beyond his reach. Becoming a sullen child in the body of a jacked man nearing 50, Rex transforms closed-off inaction into an acting showcase like few others.
Such scenes may not be the sort of thing that gets celebrated in the form of Oscar clips. Still, they indicate a formidable willingness to take a role to its limits, to illuminate a character's truth even if that means presenting them as irredeemable monsters. If that's not Oscar-worthy, I don't know what is.
Red Rocket is now in selected theaters.
A24, Best Actor, FYC, Oscars (21), Red Rocket, Sean Baker, Simon Rex
Reader Comments (5)
Thank you, Claudio. I would love to see Simon Rex nominated. It’s always exciting for someone to nab a first nom, especially journeyman actors whose pathway to the ceremony is so much more hard fought. Rex, the Mass quartet, Collins Jr are my hopes for this year! It’s feels like more of an achievement than ‘multiple non/ previously won movie star in studio film with Oscar friendly release date and contractually guaranteed campaign’ actor getting their 3rd, 4th, whateverth nomination for…. ?
Choog -- it's so true. It's frustrating to me that critics don't champion the harder Oscar battles more. Advocacy should be part of the job rather than just singing the praises of the high profile stuff in your own awards.
A nomination for Simon Rex would be great and a massive "fuck you" to everyone that claimed he has been washed up. I like the fact that he's getting this chance and is starting something new.
A nomination for Simon Rex would be great and a massive "fuck you" to everyone that claimed he has been washed up. I like the fact that he's getting this chance and is starting something new.
It's the performance of the year male or female, Lead of Supporting. I was counting on NYFCC to get the ball rolling but now, whilst he should be winning EVERY award going, I doubt he'll even get nommed at the Oscars.