IS GOD IS Review

The world is a judgmental place with judgmental people. Some face the consequences of that judgment more than others, and it doesn't help when something about your appearance makes you physically different. What if you knew the person responsible for the difficulties you've faced in life?

Twin sisters Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) live their lives with burn scars on them. Racine's scars are mostly on her arm, but Anaia's are on her face, causing people to stare and judge. When Racine receives a letter from her mother Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), who they refer to as God, she and Anaia learn she's alive, but also learns that she's dying and wants to see them. When they visit, they learn they got those scars when their father (Sterling K. Borwn) set their mother on fire when the girls were little. Ruby has one request for the girls before she dies: kill their father.

The concept alone lets us know we're in for a thrilling ride. The sisters have very different reactions to the idea of killing someone. Racine is all in, feeling like it is only just that the man who has made them suffer all of their lives pay for it. She doesn't even care if he's the only one that gets harmed in the process. Anaia, however, is adamant that they are "not killers", and while she may not fully disagree that her dad should suffer, she doesn't believe anyone else should. They didn't do anything to them. These differences can't break them away from the only person who has been there for them all of their life, so they must proceed on this mission together.

The film has creative ways to show us just how strong the bond between these sisters is. They only have to look at each other, or even be near each other, and they know what the other is thinking. Text appears on screen to let the audience know what they're saying in those moments as well. The best part is I fully believed it. The chemistry between these two actresses and their facial acting is so strong that I believed they were having these conversations without actually saying a word. The text itself is done very uniquely, adding its own flair to the style rather than taking the easy route and treating them as regular subtitles.

The ensemble here is one of the strongest I've seen in years. Kara Young gives a fierceness to the more confident, more determined sister, while Mallori Johnson plays the more nervous sister with quiet dignity that shows she is still her own, strong person underneath. Vivica M. Fox steals the show with her limited screentime, and Sterling K. Brown is able to be a threatening antagonist without being over the top. Erika Alexander, Janelle Monáe, and Mykelti Williamson all have single scene performances where each one feels like the stand out at the moment their scenes happen. I don't even know which of the small role performances is my favorite, or how I would rank them.

The biggest compliment I can give this is that having not seen the play, I can't even imagine it as one. Too many movie adaptions of plays just feel like a play that was filmed. Here, Alesha Harris knew she was adapting this into a movie and took full advantage of the medium. Her screenplay is strong, allowing the character dynamics to shine and for all of the characters, even the single scene ones, to feel fleshed out. Her directing is just as sharp, making some unique choices and capturing the big moments of action and the smaller moments of just sitting with the sisters in an equally exciting way.

Is God Is immediately became a film I love on first watch, and one I can see myself loving even more after revisiting it. If you have a chance to see this movie, it's a must watch.

🍿SCORE = 93 / 100