Rosalind Eleazar Gives One of the Year's Best Performances in the Acerbic and Tender Misty Green

Rosalind Eleazar as Misty Green —Courtesy of A24 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 A24 We’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.