Is God Is

Grade: B+

Is God Is, believe it or not, is based on a play that ran Off-Broadway for a little over a month. You can watch a couple of scenes from it on YouTube. The playwright, Aleshea Harris, has been given the writer/director reign by Orion Pictures, for her feature film debut. I’m surprised when I learned it was Off-Broadway, to be honest. The little bit I watched online looked community theatre-ish. But however the journey started, it has announced itself with authority on the big screen, as an emotionally charged, blood-soaked revenge story, à la Kill Bill. It has the absorbing bloodlust and smart filmmaking prowess of Quentin Tarantino and Rob Zombie – two directors I’ve always admired.

The plot involves twin sisters Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson). They live together, do everything else together, and can even communicate without speaking, in a delightful recurring bit that includes subtitles on the screen. They work in an office building, as janitors. They grew up in at least four foster homes, where they suffered more than one kind of abuse, and were bullied due to their appearance.

When they were 6, their dad knocked their mother unconscious, dragged her into the bathtub, and set her on fire. After being acquitted of all charges, he skipped town and built a new life with a new name. Considering he got off, I’m not sure why he changed his name, except perhaps to make himself more difficult to find in case anyone from his past were to go looking. Racine and Anaia got burned because they were in the bathroom, trying to save their mother. 

All three survived, but the mother, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), fared the worst. When the daughters go visit her after many years of no contact, she is bedridden with a few people attending to her. She’s on her way out, but has one final wish for her daughters: make him dead. Real dead. Racine and Anaia hesitate at first, but then Ruby asks her helpers to lift up the blanket over her legs, so they can see her bottom half. We don’t see it, but they do, and it seals the deal. We also aren’t shown the actual burning in the flashback. In both cases, it’s a powerful choice to leave it up to our imaginations.

Young and Johnson have chemistry as the twins. Fox and Janelle Monáe, as the father’s current wife, bring much to the table in their small roles. Some of the fight choreography is surprisingly sloppy. A few kicks obviously don’t make contact with any body parts, but people act as if they do. You’d expect something like that in a live theatre production if you’re sitting very close with a clear sight line, but not in a big budget movie where you can do as many takes as you need, or fix it in post-production. It’s a nitpick. This is a very strong film that works where it matters, and I was all in.

It doesn’t take Racine and Anaia long to catch up with him. I can imagine a lesser version of this movie, that would turn the majority of its runtime into an exhausting, frustrating wild goose chase full of false leads and setbacks – but instead, they locate their sperm donor quickly and easily. Look at me, not being able to bring myself to type the word “father” to describe this fictional character. That’s how under my skin this got for me. The man – whose name is never said, and is only known on the cast list as Man – is played by Sterling K. Brown, a likable actor and person, by all appearances. It’s a convincing turn for him. Man is sociopathic in the way he’s able to casually disregard everything that’s taken place in his home when he arrives, and make himself a sandwich. His dialogue is among the quieter, calmer moments in the movie.

There is both predictability and surprises in the final act. They couldn’t resist having an unconscious character come to, and sneak up behind to help somebody out in the nick of time. However, the ending goes in a direction that I wasn’t expecting, and brings a tinge of sadness. Is God Is crackles and smolders with Tarantinian/Zombian life, to be sure, but it’s more than that. Deep digs into hot topics and relevant talking points emerge along the way, like when someone says “If your mother was so great, she shoulda left. Any woman who knows her worth would know to leave.” That line doesn’t come from the character you might think it does.

Grade: B+