Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Is God Is,” a new thriller now playing in theatres, a dying mother sends her twin daughters on a mission of revenge.

CAST: Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Vivica A. Fox, Sterling K. Brown. Written and directed by Aleshea Harris.

REVIEW: Revenge and reckoning lie at the heart of “Is God Is.” Fueled by rage and raw emotion, it’s a spellbinding Greek tragedy by way of Tennessee.

Based on director Aleshea Harris’ 2018 play of the same name, “Is God Is” stars Mallori Johnson and Kara Young as Anaia and Racine, twin sisters who were disfigured after their abusive father, known only as The Monster (Sterling K. Brown), deliberately lit a fire in their home. Inseparable, Racine, whose scars are hidden, is fiercely protective of Anaia whose face was burned. They share everything from a terrible legacy and twin telepathy to the burn scars that have come to define their lives.

They believed their mother, Ruby the God (Vivica A. Fox), perished in the blaze, but turns out, she’s alive, but just barely. On her deathbed, she has a request for her daughters. “Girls, I’m gonna make this real simple,” she says. “Make your daddy dead. Real dead.”

With mom’s marching orders, they set off to find the man who changed all their lives irrevocably.

“This seems a little crazy,” says Racine.

“Not as crazy as setting your wife on fire in front of your kids, then abandoning them.”

A potent mix of arthouse and grindhouse, “Is God Is” is an exciting feature film debut for     writer and director Aleshea Harris. Infused with style, emotional weight and philosophical heft, it’s a bold big screen unveiling of a talent that put me in the mind of watching “Reservoir Dogs” for the first time.

It’s not just a debut, it’s an announcement. A declaration of Harris’s fundamental understanding of the film’s basic elements—neo-noir, Southern Gothic, revenge, buddy comedy road trips and spaghetti westerns—and her ability to take the various components and filter them through her own sensibility to create something that feels unique and alive in every frame.

The inciting incident, the fire that changed Anaia, Racine and Ruby’s lives, for instance, is horrifying, not because of what it shows but because of what it doesn’t show. Ditto a murder in the film’s final third. Harris is confident enough to allow the audience’s imagination to take over, to let us do the work, and those sequences have extra torque because of it.

Even though the situations are extreme, the top-line performances from two-time Tony winner Kara Young and Mallori Johnson keep the brutal story of retribution relatable.

Much of this material is heightened—particularly Erika Alexander as Divine the Healer and Vivica A. Fox as Ruby the God, who, despite being bedridden and covered with prosthetics, dominates her scene—but the central characters, Anaia and Racine, as they glide through the comedy, violence and moral dilemmas inherent to the story, remain eye level on their mission from Ruby the God.

Sterling K. Brown rates a mention for making a character who has very little screen time, but is talked about throughout, surprising and far more nuanced than expected. No spoilers here!

“Is God Is” is electrifying cinema, a pulpy movie that is in no way passive. Whether it makes you laugh, cringe and ponder cyclical violence, it demands a reaction.