red rocket, but the rocket should have crashed.

Usually, I am an absolute sucker for films where nothing happens, and I love a quirky, indie type beat. But my god, this film was a waste of mine and Vue’s money, and I used Meerkat Movies 2-4-1 tickets.

I am not naive enough to think that you must like the main character of every film you watch, but this guy was fully unbearable. Maybe it just touched a nerve with me but I just could not stand this man, and his every move pissed me off.

I didn’t see it as some grand commentary on society or some deep probe into the minds of Texas locals, I just saw it as a total romanticisation of minors, grooming, predatory behaviour, and worse. We see no character developement from anyone and ‘Strawberry’ is a blatant manic pixie dream girl for the twisted fanatasies the weird lovers of this film wamt to project onto the protagonist. The whole plot was insufferable and I could not wait for it to be over.

I understand covering grooming and other sensitive subjects if it is obviously critical, or an obvious piece of social commentary, but it just didnt feel that way. The girl-ification of Suzanna Son was just blatant fetishisation and I dont think the film was strong enough to communicate to the audiencfe that Mikey is NOT a good guy, despite whatever it was the director intended. It reeked of classism and misogyny, and you can argue all you want whether the director was pushing this on purpose, but the perception from the audience outweighs that every day.

The camera work and aesthetic was great, and the soundtrack even better, but I just cannot turn a blind eye to the bin fire of a story, and the fact that on a whole it was fully unenjoyable.

RATING – 3.5/10

Shpuld I watch? Maybe if you should be in jail.