Aleshea Harris’ directorial debut Is God Is — based on her play of the same name — is as original and gripping a thriller as we’re likely to see this year. We follow two twenty-something twin sisters Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) as they scour the southern United States seeking revenge against their truly evil father (Sterling K. Brown). The film feels ethereal, irreverent, and eerie in all the right ways. It’s not without its rough edges, but for a film with its tough subject matter, it almost wouldn’t make sense if it didn’t have those kinds of intentional record-scratch moments which stick in your brain and make you question what you’re seeing.
A word of caution: this is not a pleasant story about family reconciliation. Racine, Anaia, and their mother Ruby (who the girls refer to as “God” and assumed was dead before receiving a letter from her; Vivica A. Fox) were all nearly burned to death by their abusive patriarch, who then fled the scene, got off in court, and began a whole new life as if nothing ever happened. Ruby suffered lifelong skin damage across her entire body. Anaia suffered lifelong skin damage across her face, while Racine only seriously burned her arm. On her deathbed, Ruby requests that her daughters find her evil ex-husband and kill him. She gives them a starting point in their quest, which turns into easily the funniest scene in the film: Divine (Erika Alexander), who is a pastor in a church she runs out of her home and was the twins’ father’s next romantic partner after he burned and abandoned their mother.
From there, the film neatly perches itself between a character study of these traumatized sisters and an atypical revenge picture. The action may not always be the most impeccably photographed, but it’s plenty visceral and violent enough to be in keeping with the darkly digestible drama. Is God Is is really about its two leads working things out between each other emotionally before they inevitably have to commit to meting out justice. I’m curious to know which stylistic elements here were carried over from the play, because the cinematic stylings stand out in the best possible way. For example, the twins consistently give each other silent looks which say a whole lot, and that whole lot is usually subtitled for us. Also, Jay Rabinowitz’s editing frequently allows us glimpses at each woman’s inner life and perspective separate from the other. These elements develop their dynamic more deeply than dialogue alone.
The film leads to an all-out emotional and violent crescendo, in which one of the tensest moments of pure acting of the past several years in movies occurs. That particular scene honestly makes the movie worth the price of admission all on its own, to say nothing of the refreshing and enlightening nature of the rest of the film. Harris has put herself on the map as a writer and director here, and I can’t wait to see how her career unfolds. It seems impossible to me that almost anyone could top that scene I just mentioned, but, as with all great directorial debuts, I love being reminded that anything is possible. | George Napper
