The old rule still holds

Marie Dressler said a century ago, "You're only as good as your last picture." In today's world of limited series and forgotten independent films, that observation is more apt and heartbreaking than ever.

“You're only as good as your last picture.”

Misty needs a break she won't get

Misty Green, played by Rosalind Eleazar in Chris Rock's fourth feature film as director, is a gifted singer and actor with an Emmy from a hit series.

Self-destruction and desperation collide

Misty chooses clubbing and cocaine over learning lines for important auditions. Now essentially homeless after camping in a dead ex-lover's apartment, she has seven days to leave before his widow evicts her.

Her brother arrives with his own crisis

Misty's fragile brother Jay, played by Daniel Kaluuya, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and shows up at the apartment needing more from her than she can provide during her own desperate straits.

Eleazar makes us love the unlovable

Eleazar, best known for Slow Horses, gives one of the year's best performances.At an audition, a man asks, "Are you mixed?"

“Are you mixed?”

Acerbic and tender, without false hope

Rock gives Misty an empathetic yet unsentimental ending she deserves. In a film both acerbic and tender, Eleazar makes us love Misty almost against our will, opening a safe space without the false promise of…