By Matthew Moorcroft

Highest Recommendation

• Directed by Aleshea Harris
• Starring Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Sterling K. Brown
• R

When you have nobody else, it becomes difficult to feel anything else other then rage at the rest of the world.

Thus is the life of the twins Racine and Anaia, two women whose bodies are permanently scarred and burned due to an abusive father who set their own mother ablaze. This horrific act of violence, gone mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world as the monster responsible has walked free and lived his life free of responsibility, has made the two girls deeply, understandably resentful and just wanting an answer to the question as to why. And when tasked by God herself – in this case, their mother on her deathbed – to finally put an end to this devil, these fallen angels are finally on their way for both that closure as well as an answer to the question as to why.

A Southern Gothic fable that plays in the biblical, Is God Is is as close to a revelation of a debut as they come. Aleshea Harris’ directorial beginnings in the feature film world are stylish, confident, and bold just like the women that it presents on screen, and every frame feels sun soaked in a sweat that indicates that it’s a little too hot for the spring time but just not hot enough yet for summer. Everything, and everyone, is a little tense and on edge, and it feels like a powder keg just waiting to go off at any moment.

And once the powder keg does go off, it’s a sight to behold. Harris makes no compromises on the violence here, unafraid to be nasty and brutal with the eventual splatterings of gore that make up much of the last third of the picture. It’s not as flashy or as immediately satisfying as others of it’s ilk, but there is a cartharsis that works thanks to Harris’ careful buildup of laying down all of the pieces in place. Every scene that focuses on both how said monster has victimized everyone and everything in his past, all the while people have protected him and continued to allow to run rampant in his menace. Even his own victims aren’t safe here, as they have their own biases and victim blaming towards the twins; if they hated him so much, why are they searching for him, they ask.

It’s this complexity in the actual presentation and writing of Is God Is that makes it so compelling from start to finish. Both Kara Young and Mallori Johnson have particularly meaty roles here, both complicated young women with their own feelings towards their god given duty and whether or not they can succeed at it. Young in particular approaches her performance as Racine with a ferocity, taking on the anger and rage wholesale and giving Racine an immediate edge to her that separates her from the kinder, more soft spoken Anaia. Johnson, caked in excellent makeup work, is almost always in the background but key to the whole picture; the side of the twins that does actually see the best in people but just can’t speak up due to the world ignoring them simply due to their “defects”.

The entire cast in fact is uniformly excellent here, even beyond the excellent leads. The flurry of supporting players, from Vivica A. Fox’s portrayal of God that feels straight out of a Greek tragedy to Sterling K. Brown’s deeply terrifying monster of a man, it’s difficult to pick a standout in one of the best ensemble you’ll see this year. Brown in particular is hidden by the camera for much of the film, only seen in flashback through a smarmy grin and an imposing, tall figure in shadow that leaves blood, smoke, and fire in his wake.

No easy answers or resolutions here either, as Is God Is wraps up in such a way that will likely leave some pondering the implications of it’s final moments. There is a karmic destiny to the whole affair that’s impossible to deny, and one can certainly view it’s last act as a representation as a small scale rapture. Indeed, Is God Is, when viewed as said parable, leaves so much to chew on you will likely be pondering for days afterwards it’s implications and ideas. As a debut, that’s the best you can absolutely ask for, and as a new addition to the many texts about patriarchal violence and generational trauma, it’s one of the most insightful and deeply complex. One of the year’s best.