Rosalind Eleazar Solidifies Star Power in Misty Green

Often being dubbed the “Black Meryl Streep,” Viola Davis won the an Academy Award for “Fences,” and one would have thought scripts were flooding in.  They were not and Davis has been very vocal about spending the better part of the nine years producing her own projects to star in.  The same can be said for  countless actresses of color, who have been awarded by their peers.  Yet, when the momentum dies and their names aren’t populating the trades on a daily basis, these actresses find themselves back at square one having to prove their talent and box office appeal repeatedly with little return on their investment.  But, what happens when they stop betting on themselves and unconsciously self sabotage with each meeting, audition and booking?  You get a career that looks like Misty Green’s.

Directed, written and co-starring Chris Rock, Misty Green is an Emmy award winning actress whose career has stalled due to her own poor choices. Learning she has seven days to move out of her late lover’s Santa Monica condo, Misty (Rosalind Eleazar) must balance her looming homelessness while financially and emotionally supporting bipolar brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya. In a desperate move for quick cash, she turns down a shady and lucrative offer from her former flame Zach (Adam Driver) to travel to Dubai, when the break to turn everything around lurks closer than she knows.

As an actress (now journalist and film critic) , who has virtually been unemployed for nearly five years, this story was a little too close for comfort.  The industry is not kind and after more than 100 auditions in the last five years, there have been a total of two bookings on camera.  Despite having made history as the only Black actress who recurred on four sitcoms in one episodic season three times, seems like no matter how many steps forward, the goal line keeps getting moved further and further away making it virtually impossible to regain one’s former glory. But, that’s my story. The story of an actress who is not the figment of someone’s imagination.

Being part of Rock’s imagination, this film doesn’t work without the grace, composure and layered complexity Rosalind Eleazar brings to to the title role. She is living proof no matter how talented, fit and gorgeous you are, if there are personal demons lurking in and about your world, making it to the other side can feel like an impossibility.  Her most poignant and touching scenes are with Kaluuya, who literally steals the film from everyone in it. Not to mention, her rendition of ‘One Night Only,’ which is heartbreaking and soul stirring in a way one doesn’t see coming.

Rock’s screenplay is not meant to be a comedy, but teeters more on the satire side with moments like Green struggling with self-tapes, the stress and b.s. that comes with in-person appointments or biting the bullet and auditioning for the classic stereotypical role straddling the line between ‘ho’ and hostess. Not to mention the self-doubt on a loop reinforcing the narrative that you aren’t enough no matter what you do.

Each character is on the struggle bus chasing a level of fame and notoriety that never reaches its full potential.  Zach craves to be taken seriously as the producer who can make things happen at the snap of a finger, Jordan (Chris Rock) is longing for one more shot as a winning director and Misty needs to prove, if only to herself, that she is still relevant.

The acting community will enjoy this film for what is, a major middle finger to the absurdity of a process that allows award-winning actresses of color to continuously be disrespected and discarded.

Misty Green will hit a nerve, yet entertain in the same manner films like “I’m Gonna Get you Sucka’ and “Bamboozled” may have ruffled feathers, but will have audiences thinking about how far we have come and how far we have still fallen behind,  in more ways than one individually and collectively as an industry and a people.