‘Is God Is’ Review: A Debut That Will Stick With Your Long After The Credits Roll

“Is God Is” has been described as a revenge story.

“I’ve called it that,” the film’s writer, director, and producer, Aleshea Harris, tells Her Agenda, “I hope it’s not limiting. I hope that close listeners and viewers will recognize that just because it’s a revenge tale doesn’t mean it’s not also a story about deep sisterhood, and that there’s a lot of tenderness and joy inside of [it].”

“It can be many things at once,” she continues. 

And that, it is. 

The film is remarkably nuanced, and it’s exactly these varying dualities that make it so strikingly beautiful.

“Is God Is” marks Aleshea’s directorial debut. It follows twin sisters Racine (Kara Young), “the rough one”, and Anaia (Mallori Johnson), “the quiet one”, on their mission to find their abusive father (Sterling K. Brown), at the behest of their dying mother, Ruby, (Vivica A. Fox), who they nickname “God”, and therein, carry out her final wish. 

“Make your daddy dead…” God commands, “real dead”. 

And so the twins embark on a road trip across the dirty south with the singular mission of destroying “the monster” who set their mother on fire in front of them when they were children, forever scarring them, literally and figuratively. 

For 99 minutes, the audience is brought in on the journey alongside them. It’s an immersive sensory experience. Shot in New Orleans, the film feels hot, the moisture palpable in the air. The twins communicate telepathically, via an unspoken language that appears as text on the screen, drawing us right into their thoughts. When we meet God, the light envelops her, like a halo, and as her hair is being braided, you can almost hear the crackling of a fire. 

These aesthetics will likely be the first thing that stands out to audiences. The film is an adaptation of Aleshea’s award-winning play of the same name. The play opened at the Soho Repertory Theatre in 2018. It was praised for, among other things, its poetic elements and stylistic uniqueness, an artistic vision that Aleshea managed to maintain in film: the “rhythm and song” of the twin’s black southern drawl, the bold use of color that fades to sepia during flashbacks, the seamless mix of genres, spanning Hip hop, Afro punk, Spaghetti Western, Greek Tragedy, and Southern Gothic that never feel out of place.

“I can use a certain aspect, a certain mood, in terms of the colors, the objects that are curated in the space, the bodies and how they are articulated, that feel like genre, but are also true to the story.” Aleshea explains, “It’s about specificity and honoring what’s there, not doing things just ‘cus, [but] to help deepen the experience for an audience.”

The second standout will likely be the ensemble. Sterling K. Brown, in particular, gives a hauntingly terrifying performance as “the monster”. Though he’s not on screen much, whenever he appears, you’re guaranteed to get chills. Erika Alexander is dynamic as “the healer”, Divine, and Mykelti Williamson, despite not uttering a single word, is quite compelling as “the lawyer”. 

Then, there’s the twins. Young and Johnson do an exceptional job at bringing their intricate polarity to life: eerily similar, yet wholly distinct, at once. 

And it’s this complexity that will stick with audiences long after the credits roll. 

“People are full of contradictions.” Aleasha notes, “Abusive, terrible people are also charming. The oppressor is sometimes oppressed. To me, [complexity] feels more delicious, more true to life, more honest.”

The bond between Racine and Anaia is unmistakable. As the audience, you can’t help but be drawn to their relationship, one that at its core is rooted in love. 

“It’s deep and abiding love for one another. Almost like a desperate love,” she clarifies. “These two women haven’t had anyone but each other. They’re the only constant in each other’s lives.”

Yet, there is a tantalizing tension between the two that’s ever-present, if difficult to define. 

“We’ll see what happens, how that shifts, how that is challenged by the journey they go on.”

“Is God Is” is out in theaters today, May 15th!