It was probably around 100 years ago that stalwart Hollywood star Marie Dressler said, “You’re only as good as your last picture.” Today, that hard-nosed observation not only holds; in a culture measured out in here-today-gone-tomorrow limited series and independent films that fail to find their audience, it’s more apt, and more potentially heartbreaking, than ever.
Misty Green, the title character and the heartbeat of Chris Rock’s fourth feature film as a director, is living out Dressler’s maxim. Misty, played by Rosalind Eleazar, is a gifted singer and actor who desperately needs a break. But there are good reasons she’s not going to get it. Even though she has an Emmy from her role in a hit series, she’s on her way to being forgotten. She has no patience for Hollywood BS and refuses to play the usual games. But she’s also prickly and unpleasant—she has alienated most of the people who might be able to help her—and a self-destructive streak hinders her further: She’d rather go out for a night of clubbing and coke than stay in and learn her lines for the next day’s important audition.
So now she’s in desperate straits. Essentially homeless, she’s been camping out in the apartment of a rich—and dead—ex-lover, but the guy’s angry widow has just given her seven days to pack up and vacate. During all this, her fragile brother, Jay (Daniel Kaluuya), who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and whom she loves deeply, shows up at the flat that’s not even her own, needing more from her than she can provide.
Rock and Eleazar in Misty Green —Courtesy of A24We’ve seen the story of the wannabe comeback kid before. And Misty Green isn’t always a thoroughly graceful film. One of the weaker links may be the character played by Rock himself, Jordan, a director who wants to help Misty but harbors amorous feelings that don’t feel wholly believable; Misty could use some help, but she may not need that kind of savior. But overall, Rock’s writing is sharp and perceptive, and he’s attuned not just to the horrors of trying to make it in Hollywood, but also to Misty’s specific plight—and to the reality that she’s at times almost repugnantly dislikable.
Eleazar, best known for her role in Slow Horses, knows just how to shape this character without ever softening her. Misty is gifted, arrogant, impossible; at times, you begin to wonder if she even deserves a break. But Eleazar, giving one of the best performances of the year, tears our expectations to shreds: Who are we to decide what she deserves? At one point, during an audition, one of the men in charge of potentially hiring her blurts out, “Are you mixed?” and her eyes, moments ago dancing with fire, become glacier cold.
Misty has made her way along a path paved with irrelevant, if not outright racist and sexist, questions and assumptions—it’s little wonder she can barely take any more. But even stronger than her resentment is her belief that she still has something to give. It may be a stereotype to characterize actors as needy people, but Eleazar captures an almost existential longing that goes beyond garden-variety neediness. And at her lowest moment, Misty’s desperation becomes nearly unbearable to watch. Eleazar brings us right to the knifepoint of her degradation, and it pierces us too.
But Rock wouldn’t leave Misty in despair; he gives her the empathetic yet unsentimental ending she deserves. It’s almost impossible to like Misty, and yet, in a film that’s both acerbic and tender, Eleazar makes us love her, almost against our will. Hollywood, a place of dreams, can be inhumane to those who dream the biggest. Misty Green opens a safe space for them—without the false promise of a happy ending.
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