“Is God Is” (2026) is first time director and writer Aleshea Harris’s film adaptation of her play, which ran from February 6through March 11, 2018. It is impossible to imagine this dynamic film as a play. When a Man (Sterling K. Brown) burns his wife, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), he leaves their twin daughters, Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson), behind to live with extensive burn scars. After they grow up, they find out their mother survived. She orders them to kill their daddy, so they go on a road trip from New Jersey to California to find him and stumble across an unusual cast of characters. Are the twins killers, and if they are, how will they live with themselves if they kill their dad? This unforgettable violent revenge film is a strong, stylish, unrelenting entry that will keep you on the edge of your seat and has moments that will leave you reeling and disturbed.
It may be a long shot considering a first-time movie does not have the budget to campaign for awards, but in a merit-based world, the casting director for “Is God Is,” Avy Kaufman and Meagan Lewis, would be frontrunners to get the second Academy Award for Best Achievement in Casting. Despite looking incredibly different, Young and Johnson are convincing as twins and unlikely women avengers. They are ordinary women working in anonymity and quiet lives with each other. Young plays the rough sister who will lash out if anyone makes her sister feel ugly, and it is rare for a Black woman, especially of her size, to play a fearsome foe. Neither Harris not Young allow the audience to relish in her rage and violence. Young knows how to turn up the heat and make Racine feel unstable and dangerous as if she is one second or one word away from killing anyone. Johnson plays the nice sister, but she is more cowed and accepting of the world’s cruelty and tries to act like the brakes in her sister’s quest but is shocked at her sister’s reactions. The Makeup Department makes their scars look realistic, and Johnson is still able to act through them, not let them wear her. Johnson’s physical demeanor and wide eyes distinguish her character from her sister. Movement specialist Raja Feather Kelly worked with the two so they would be in sync like twins.
Fox is no stranger to action movies, especial with vengeance themes, but this time, her character is restricted to a bed and offers a weary, regal presence as God or their mother, Ruby. Production designer Freyja Bardell, set decorator Kimberly Murphy and costume designer Angelina Vitto style and stage her as if she is a ruler with attendants, not an ailing woman with aides (Alimah Muhammad, Jessica Bucanan, Rechelle Lindsey). The house’s exterior is bursting with life. Her bed is more than a canopy and is enveloped in olive green drapes that opens to the bed, which Fox treats like a throne. Harris shows the past in sepia tones with flashes of red to depict violence or the pattern of the thread. Ruby wears pearls and has braids like her daughters. Pearls are a motif that appear later in “Is God Is” though in far fewer quantity and are symbols of status, spiritual authority, endurance and transformation. In the Yoruba tradition, they are symbols of motherhood and protection. Considering how their father attacked their mother, the association with water seems appropriate.
Since justice is already off the table, this revenge is the only recourse to declaring that what happened to them was wrong. While the twins are distinct individuals, they also represent two options for women with Racine symbolizing the road less traveled as her daddy’s daughter and ignoring any practical obstacles such as size, strength and inexperience to embrace a task that is normally depicted as masculine. Alternatively, Anaia embraces gender norms and allows her worth to be conflated with conventional beauty norms believing that having any man is better than none. In many ways, she needs this quest, so she does not accept a world that allows a father to destroy his family and enjoy a consequence free life except to those whom he affects. “Is God Is” becomes a tour for the women to trace how their father lived after he attacked them. It becomes a story of ballooning damage with people consciously and unconsciously protecting a man who harmed each of them even if they fail to recognize it. It feels like a microcosm of society bending over backwards to protect bad men with many of the men caring more for his safety than he does over these protective men’s very existence. Others just follow in the spirit of his footsteps in the way that they instinctually treat women as objects that exist to please them and punish them for failing even when the women act to benefit them.
If that sounds dour and joyless, think again. It is lively, unpredictable and dynamic. Comedic genius actor Erika Alexander takes a dramatic turn as Divine, The Healer, a charlatan preacher with a small following that acts as if their father is Jesus, which would be blasphemy to the twins. Mykelti Williamson of “Forrest Gump” (1994) fame plays the (defense) lawyer, Chuck Hall, who may have their father’s location. Janelle Monáe plays the New Wife. Also worth mentioning are Josiah Cross, Justen Ross and Xavier Mills who deliver performances that are far less showy, but just as memorable and shocking. If “Is God Is” has one flaw, it is revealing that Brown plays the Man, but it is an understandable one because advertising Brown as part of the cast will be an undeniable draw for moviegoers. He has taken villain roles before, but the surprise would have been explosive.
Usually, films based on plays have a lot of dialogue, are limited and have few characters. “Is God Is” is the opposite. While there is a lot of dialogue, the editing, locations and unique narrative approaches make it cinematic. It seems outlandish to imagine producing this story on stage, especially the action scenes. Also, when the twins cannot talk because they are brushing their teeth, Harris puts their dialogue on screen and uses the font, rhythm of words appearing on screen or the capitalization or lack thereof to convey the tone. While Quentin Tarantino is obviously an influence, “Is God Is” is not as self-indulgent as his work and feels more consequential. Though unintended, Harris’ debut is in conversation with Damian Mc Carthy’s work about the crossroads between the supernatural and quotidian violence and how the prior make bad men accountable. There does seem to be a “Boy Kills World” (2023) inspired action sequence.
“Is God Is” is disturbing for a variety of reasons, but it is a thought provoking, adrenaline ride on the way to right a wrong that was never corrected and how even that demand for justice can come at a high price. Movie goers will hopefully leave questioning the lack of outrage that people express against evil even when it affects them.
