Whether he knows it or not, Sean Baker is one of our most deeply intelligent humanists. He has a singular ability to excavate the complexity and the mundane (self-inflicted) tragedy of modern human life. His protagonists are deeply troubled and problematic people, opportunists and narcissists and survivors, and somehow no matter how badly they behave, there is some small part of you that roots for them, anticipates a redemption that never comes.
Mikey (played by Simon Rex) is terrible, predatory, parasitic – and there are hints that he knows it, and there is that fleeting spark of possibility that maybe this time will be different. And of course, it never is. I think the most telling relationship in the film is between Mikey and Lonnie, that destructive trajectory as Mikey exploits Lonnie then easily abandons him at the first sign of trouble. The palpable hypocrisy when Mikey criticizes Lonnie for a scam that is vastly less malicious than his own behavior.
This is a person who – through whatever untold history – has lost all sense of ethical or empathetic behavior. And yet through charisma and luck and plain harassment, he manages to get his way to a large extent. And this is where the movie’s politics are hiding, the reason that Trump is a motif in the background; another figure who is objectively terrible yet manages to “succeed” through a pattern of lying and exploitation.
As usual with Baker’s movies the cinematography is beautiful: stretches of marsh, deserted streets, even the donut shop parking lot with the refinery in the near distance somehow has a glow, an aliveness. Rex is fantastic, inhabiting all the terribleness of Mikey while letting those hints of humanity and self-doubt barely squeak through. Suzanna Son is also very good, and provides the most tension in terms of where things may be heading. Overall an excellent film from an excellent filmmaker.
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