FESTIVAL REVIEW
The fourth feature directed by Chris Rock, Misty Green stars Rosalind Eleazar as the titular character, an actress and former Emmy winner whose career never took off after her breakthrough. That is partly due to Hollywood’s lack of opportunities for older Black actresses, but also partly because of Misty herself, whose sense of entitlement, difficult reputation, and regular drug use have hardly helped her cause. She now has one week to leave her dead ex-boyfriend’s huge apartment, just as her brother, who struggles with mental illness, is released from prison. She also reencounters a successful director, played by Rock himself, who might finally give her the comeback role she desperately needs.
There is a tricky line at the center of Misty Green between how much Hollywood has failed Misty and how much Misty has failed herself. She is passed over for a leading role because she is considered too old, despite being far better than the younger actress who gets it. At the same time, she believes smaller roles are beneath her and barely makes an effort when opportunities do come along, and let’s not forget that she starts the film living in an enormous apartment that impresses even Hollywood directors.
It is often puzzling what Rock is actually trying to achieve with these contradictions, and several of his choices only make them harder to reconcile. The first, although hardly the most troubling, is casting himself as what basically amounts to a guardian angel in Misty’s life. His character is kind, patient, and remarkably forgiving, willing to offer her a major role hours after she almost ended both of their lives. More troubling is how Rock writes several of the women around her as manipulative liars, deceiving the people closest to them while pursuing their own desires on the side (in Anna Kendrick’s case, that includes a strange fetishistic attraction to Black men). Worst of all is an immensely frustrating late twist with deeply problematic implications. Not only does the film become prejudiced on many levels, but it also takes Misty into dark territory, only to gloss over and forgive her minutes later. Taken together, these choices make the film’s perspective on its women increasingly difficult to understand, especially when Rock has written himself such a flattering role within their story. Less significant, but still annoying, everyone also seems to communicate by yelling. Apparently it is the only way the comedian knows how to communicate, so naturally everyone else has to do it like him.
On the bright side, Rosalind Eleazar commands our attention as Misty, with the presence and singing voice of a movie star. While I am glad that Eleazar has this opportunity, her relative anonymity also works somewhat against the film. Misty is a character who could have benefited from an actress bringing some real career baggage to the role, similar to how Michael Keaton’s casting immediately adds to Birdman. Still, Eleazar does everything Rock asks of her, moving convincingly between Misty’s confidence, anger, desperation, and increasingly destructive behavior.
Daniel Kaluuya fares even better as Misty’s bipolar brother, bringing a vulnerability and authenticity that the rest of the film deeply lacks. His scenes with Eleazar are among the few moments when the characters simply feel like real people.
Yet for every tender scene, there are three or four far more problematic ones, and that conclusion is simply the worst. I left the screening disgusted by where Rock takes Misty, and even more so by his decision to cast himself as the perfect man. If he believed in the story he was telling, he should have been brave enough to do it the other way around.
- Where to watch
- Coming soon
- Where to watch
- Coming soon
Play trailer
- Original title
- Misty Green
- Director
- Chris Rock
- Cast
- Rosalind Eleazar, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace, Chris Rock, Anthony Anderson, Kelli Garner
- Rated
- R
- Screenwriter
- Chris Rock
- Composer
- Marcus Miller
- Cinematography
- Kira Kelly
- Editor
- Adam Dicterow
- Country
- Language
- English