{"id":489030,"date":"2026-10-08T08:58:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/489030\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T08:58:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:58:30","slug":"misty-green-review-rosalind-eleazar-emerges-as-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/489030\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Misty Green’ review: Rosalind Eleazar emerges as major"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chris Rock\u2019s compelling tragicomedy \u201cMisty Green\u201d<\/a> opens with a montage of Los Angeles that\u2019s as intimate as an X-ray of a tumor. The city is sick, as evidenced in photos of barren studio lots, burning trees and the boarded-up Cinerama Dome. But we\u2019re also seeing L.A. through the lens of someone who respects it anyway. The bleachy sunlight is just right, as is the shrugging acceptance that this town\u2019s strivers must accept a fair amount of filth.<\/p>\n

Here, the boundary between the haves and have-nots is as flimsy as the sidewalk tents on the Walk of Fame \u2014 another heavy-handed image Rock includes \u2014 and has been ever since the first beautiful girls tumbled off the train looking to make it in moving pictures only to realize their looks wouldn\u2019t take them much further. Misty Green (Rosalind Eleazar<\/a>), the self-destructive fictional actor of the film, hasn\u2019t been a naive starlet in over a decade. Back in 2008, she won a supporting actress Emmy for an airport show called \u201cRed Eye.\u201d But cocaine, bad choices and her own bad attitude flew her career into the ground. Today, she\u2019s stalled out and blaming her failure on happenstance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m too Black to be with Leo, not Black enough to be with Damson, I\u2019m not a nepo baby and I\u2019m not a Brit,\u201d she grumbles. (Eleazar is, in fact, a Brit \u2014 wink wink.)<\/p>\n

Misty carries herself imperiously, faking success with a Birkin bag and beachfront crash pad that belongs to a dead lover whose widow wants it back. The disdain in her eyes wards off anyone from seeing weakness. But we know her agent (Topher Grace) is right when he reminds her, \u201cDon\u2019t act like you never had a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rock also acts in the movie as an on-the-skids filmmaker named Jordan who, when tasked to reboot \u201cDreamgirls,\u201d dresses up for the job with a retro fedora. It\u2019s an apropos prop. Every time the comic steps behind the camera as a director, he tries on a slightly different hat. His first movie, 2003\u2019s \u201cHead of State,\u201d about a D.C. alderman suddenly promoted to president, nodded toward Frank Capra. \u201cI Think I Love My Wife\u201d from 2007 was an outright \u00c9ric Rohmer remake and 2014\u2019s \u201cTop Five\u201d<\/a> was a walk-and-talk Woody Allen-style New York romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMisty Green\u201d is the first movie Rock has helmed in 12 years \u2014 a welcome return \u2014 and its title, SoCal setting and spurts of soul music announce he\u2019s been contemplating Quentin Tarantino\u2019s \u201cJackie Brown.\u201d The script isn\u2019t nearly as complex and his attempts to enrich the world with radio reports about a murdered USC co-ed never take root. But, like Tarantino, he anoints a marvelous leading lady as his Pam Grier. This is Eleazar\u2019s first starring film role after the TV series \u201cSlow Horses\u201d and \u201cMissing You.\u201d Not only does she seize her moment, she even briefly slips into Misty\u2019s old \u201cRed Eye\u201d costume: a Jackie-esque stewardess skirt suit.<\/p>\n

Her character, however, is fading away in plain sight. On the rare occasion Misty is bumped up from a self-taped audition to a line reading in the room, the receptionist doesn\u2019t recognize her face, the casting directors chat over her performance and a younger actor pulls focus, barging into the meeting in a sequined evening gown. As an added insult, the part Misty is struggling to land is a stereotypical crack whore, while that sparkly room-crasher just scored the lead of Dina in \u201cDreamgirls\u201d and can\u2019t even sing.<\/p>\n

But boy, can Eleazar. Performing a cover of Radiohead\u2019s \u201cCreep\u201d at the Roosevelt Hotel, her rangy, raspy soprano stops our hearts. The scene is a knockout. Cinematographer Kira Kelly shoots powerful close-ups of Misty, then pivots to watch the people watching her. Misty\u2019s brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya), a troubled schizophrenic, and best friend Naomi (Anna Kendrick), a gold-digger about to marry a man she loathes, are both so besotted by her voice that they forget their own problems as they gaze at her in awe.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re witnessing the power of pure art, even as Rock cleverly waters down the moment with the sound of an unseen bartender rattling a martini shaker in the background. Misty has a gift \u2014 the kind that nearly makes her worth the mess \u2014 and it\u2019s agonizing to watch her waste it partying with scoundrels like Adam Driver\u2019s Zach, a coke fiend with a devilish goatee and a sordid connection to Dubai. We want to believe in the Hollywood fairy tale that talent will be rewarded. \u201cMisty Green\u201d feels more like a slasher about how that fantasy dies.<\/p>\n

Rock awkwardly tries to expand this into a story about mental illness. Kaluuya embodies Jay, newly released from a psychiatric hospital because Misty ran out of money to pay the bill, all the way down to the marrow. He\u2019s so instantly believable that the movie doesn\u2019t need its traumatic flashbacks to their childhood that distract more than deepen. (Another belabored constant is a repeated needle drop of Charli XCX. Aren\u2019t there any other party time songs?)<\/p>\n

Misty, we come to understand, has similar anger management and impulse control issues as her brother. They just manifest differently. Jay can\u2019t stay on his drugs; she won\u2019t stop snorting them. He\u2019s sinking into himself, creating a protective turtle-like shell against the nettlesome LAPD. She\u2019s stripping off her clothes for the wrong men while chasing the safety of wealth and fame.<\/p>\n

As Jordan, Rock delivers an insult comedy act about everything wrong with the town, including studio executives who insist he shoot Vancouver for Detroit. He and Misty share a flippant cynicism about the business. Still, they\u2019re both stubbornly trying to get work. Between Jordan\u2019s charm and Misty\u2019s smile that only emerges around him, the film flirts with becoming a romantic comedy.<\/p>\n

But the heart of Rock\u2019s message is that this is a gossipy town built on bonds between acquaintances you talk to all the time but barely know, like a casting director named Rhonda (Tracie Thoms) who\u2019s had a fraught relationship with Misty since the aughts. Real friends might forgive Misty when she lets them down. Industry friends won\u2019t unless they\u2019re either a saint, a sap or just stupid. We want Jordan to give Misty a shot at playing \u201cDreamgirls\u2019\u201d Dina. And we want him to run far away.<\/p>\n

Yet, Misty\u2019s fate aside, this is a star-making role for Eleazar, Rock fully believing in his leading lady. Ugly as this story gets, the result is beautiful to behold.<\/p>\n

‘Misty Green’<\/p>\n

Rated: R, for sexual content, drug use, language throughout and some nudity<\/p>\n

Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes<\/p>\n

Playing: Opens Friday, Oct. 9 in limited release<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Rock\u2019s compelling tragicomedy \u201cMisty Green\u201d opens with a montage of Los Angeles that\u2019s as intimate as an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[190894,190890,190893,1758,190892,2847,1924,91366,11131,4665,48,52,51,47,50,49,190889,4287,190895,190891,40264],"class_list":["post-489030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-brother-jay","tag-chris-rock","tag-daniel-kaluuya","tag-director","tag-dreamgirls","tag-fame","tag-film","tag-first-movie","tag-heart","tag-jordan","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-misty-green","tag-movie","tag-red-eye","tag-rosalind-eleazar","tag-town"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}