‘Misty Green’ Review: Rosalind Eleazar Is a Revelation in Chris Rock’s Sharply Observed Love-Hate Portrait of the Hollywood Hustle

The title characer in Chris Rock ’s sure-footed fourth feature as director, Misty Green , is having a rough week. An actress still best known for a TV series that ended years back, she’s about to be evicted, her bipolar brother is fresh out of a psych ward and in need of both emotional and financial support, a pimpy former colleague dangles a lucrative sex-work gig, and while her undeniable gifts might very well help her book an acting job, the many axes she has to grind in the entertainment industry keep getting in the way.

In a star-making performance, Rosalind Eleazar — best known as the tough MI5 operative grieving for her partner on Slow Horses — bites into this gift of a role with grit, tenacity and zero-fucks-given scrappiness. It’s a revelatory turn in a sensitively observed drama that depicts Los Angeles as both a shimmering beacon of fame and success and a soul-sucking grind of constant rejection, where disparities of race, class and gender are as much an obstacle as that casting director who seems to hate you. Following its premieres at the Toronto and New York film festivals, A24 will release the movie Oct. 9. Related Stories Movies 'The Surgeon' Review: Michelle Yeoh Plays a Kidnapped Doctor Trying to Outwit Her Captors in Deliriously Fun Genre-Bender Movies Mahershala Ali Reveals He Was "Yearning" to Perform Action On-Screen Before Filming 'Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother' Misty Green The Bottom Line Simultaneously breezy and steeped in melancholy. Venue : Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations) Release date : Friday, Oct. 9 Cast : Rosalind Eleazar, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Chris Rock, Topher Grace, Alexandra Shipp, Amy Landecker, Tracie Thoms, Necar Zadegan, Rich Sommer Director-screenwriter : Chris Rock Rated R, 1 hour 44 minutes