“Misty Green” review: Rosalind Eleazar comes across as major

Chris Rock’s riveting tragicomedy, “Misty Green,” opens with a montage of Los Angeles as intimate as an X-ray of a tumor. The city is sick, as evidenced by photos of barren studios, burning trees and the condemned Cinerama Dome. But we also see Los Angeles through the lens of someone who respects it anyway. The whitening sunlight is perfect, as is the soaring acceptance that fighters in this city have to put up with a fair amount of dirt.

Here, the line between the haves and the have-nots is as fragile as the sidewalk tents on the Walk of Fame—another authoritarian image Rock includes—and has been since the first beautiful girls fell off the wagon seeking success in moving pictures only to realize that their looks wouldn’t get them much further. Misty Green (Rosalind Eleazar), the film’s self-destructive fictional actor, hasn’t been a naive starlet in over a decade. In 2008, she won a Supporting Actress Emmy for an airport show called “Red Eye.” But cocaine, bad choices and his own bad attitude derailed his career. Today, she is at a standstill and attributes her failure to chance.

“I’m too black to be with Leo, not black enough to be with Damson, I’m not a nepo baby and I’m not British,” she growls. (Eleazar is, in fact, British – wink wink.)

Misty behaves imperiously, feigning success with a Birkin bag and a seaside crash pad that belong to a deceased lover whose widow wants it back. The disdain in his eyes prevents anyone from seeing weakness. But we know his agent (Topher Grace) is right when he reminds him, “Don’t act like you never had a chance.” »

Rock also stars in the film as a mobile filmmaker named Jordan who, when assigned to reboot “Dreamgirls,” dresses for work in a retro fedora. It’s a fitting accessory. Every time the comic steps behind the camera as a director, he tries on a slightly different hat. His first film, 2003’s “Head of State,” about a Washington alderman suddenly promoted to president, nodded to Frank Capra. 2007’s “I Think I Love My Wife” was a true Eric Rohmer remake, and 2014’s “Top Five” was a Woody Allen-style New York romance.

“Misty Green” is the first film Rock has directed in 12 years — a welcome return — and its title, SoCal setting and soul music flourishes announce that he was considering Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown.” The storyline isn’t as complex, and his attempts to enrich the world with radio reports about a murdered USC student never take hold. But, like Tarantino, he names a wonderful leading lady like Pam Grier. This is Eleazar’s first leading role in film after the TV series “Slow Horses” and “Missing You”. Not only does she seize her moment, but she even briefly dons Misty’s old “Red Eye” costume: a Jackie-style flight attendant skirt suit.

His character, however, fades away in plain sight. On the rare occasions when Misty goes from a self-taped audition to a reading of text in the room, the receptionist doesn’t recognize her face, the casting directors discuss her performance, and a young actor focuses and bursts into the meeting in a sequined evening dress. As an added insult, the role Misty is having trouble landing is that of a stereotypical crack whore, while this brilliant room wrecker just played the lead role of Dina in “Dreamgirls” and can’t even sing.

But boy, Eleazar can do it. Performing a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at the Roosevelt Hotel, her lanky, throaty soprano takes our hearts away. The scene is breathtaking. Cinematographer Kira Kelly shoots powerful close-ups of Misty, then pivots to look at the people watching her. Misty’s brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya), a troubled schizophrenic, and her best friend Naomi (Anna Kendrick), a gold digger about to marry a man she hates, are both so fascinated by her voice that they forget their own problems as they stare at her in awe.

We witness the power of pure art, even as rock cleverly waters down the moment with the sound of an invisible bartender shaking a martini shaker in the background. Misty has a gift — the kind that’s almost worth it — and it’s agonizing to watch her squander it partying with scoundrels like Adam Driver’s Zach, a coke fiend with a devilish goatee and a sordid connection to Dubai. We want to believe the Hollywood fairy tale that talent will be rewarded. “Misty Green” feels more like a slasher about how that fantasy dies.

Rock clumsily tries to expand this into a story about mental illness. Kaluuya plays Jay, freshly released from a mental hospital because Misty ran out of money to pay the bill, to the bone. He’s so instantly believable that the film doesn’t need his traumatic flashbacks to their childhood that distract more than deepen. (Another plodding constant is a repeated needle drop from Charli XCX. Aren’t there any other party songs?)

Misty, we understand, has similar anger management and impulse control issues to her brother. They just manifest differently. Jay cannot continue taking his medication; she won’t stop sniffing them. He burrows into himself, creating a protective turtle-like shell against the nettle of the LAPD. She strips for the wrong men while seeking the security of wealth and fame.

As Jordan, Rock delivers an insult comedy about everything that’s wrong with the city, including the studio executives who insist he shoot Vancouver for Detroit. He and Misty share a casual cynicism about the company. Yet they both stubbornly try to find work. Between Jordan’s charm and Misty’s smile which only appears around him, the film flirts with romantic comedy.

But the heart of Rock’s message is that this is a gossip town built on connections between acquaintances you talk to all the time but barely know, like a casting director named Rhonda (Tracie Thoms) who has had a strained relationship with Misty from the start. True friends might forgive Misty when she lets them down. Industry friends won’t do this unless they are saints, fools, or just plain stupid. We want Jordan to give Misty a chance to play Dina in “Dreamgirls.” And we want him to run away.

Still, Misty’s fate aside, this is a star-making role for Eleazar, with Rock fully believing in his leading lady. As ugly as this story is, the result is beautiful to see.