The preternatural connection between twin siblings is something most of us will never understand. We’ve heard the stories; being able to feel one another’s physical pain, almost a psychic link that bonds them across distances. But what if those twins are together forged by fire, tragedy, and abandonment? What does that connection then look like? In Aleshea Harris’ bold, brazen grindhouse revenge flick Is God Is, it translates into a need to lash out with extreme prejudice against the world. Or in this case, one man who has poisoned that world for them.
That man is simply referred to as “the Monster”, and played by Sterling K. Brown at his most sociopathic, toothy-grinned worst. He’s the target of this Kill Bill-esque quest for vengeance, but the film isn’t abot him. The story actually centers on twin sisters Anaia (Mallori Johnson) and Racine (Kara Young). Scarred inside and out by a raging inferno set by their father as he tried to burn their mother, Ruby the God, played by Vivica A. Fox (herself a Kill Bill alum). Thinking their mother dead as they passed from one foster home to the next, the women are shocked to receive a letter from her as she lay dying, being attended by caretakers casually braiding her hair like it’s just another day. God only wants one thing before she dies; for the girls to make their daddy dead. One of them is eager to get some payback.
Driven with fiery purpose from the start, Is God Is creates two fascinating, fully lived-in avenging angels in Racine and Anaia. The film begins with one of its many sepia-toned flashbacks that sets the tone; the aggressively protective Racine taking a baseball bat to kids making fun of the scarred and shy Anaia. The dynamic doesn’t change as they grow older. Anaia’s face was badly burned by the fire, but it can’t fully hide her natural beauty. Racine, whose arm was singed, attracts the most unwanted attention from men, all of whom are awful to varying degrees, but she’s also the one most likely to beat you over the head with a rock-filled sock. Together, Young and Johnson are the epitome of balance; one performance always like a bomb primed to detonate, the other as quiet and still as the grave.
Vivid stylistic flourishes punctuate this sinful fairy tale, which finds the sisters’ conflicting ideologies causing the most drama. When the reluctant Anaia suggests that neither of the are killers, Racing curtly responds with an undeniable fact: “We come from a man who wanted to kill our mama, and a mama who wants to kill that man.” Violence is in their blood, whether they want to accept it or not.
The journey finds the twins crossing paths with colorful characters of differing degrees of corruption, all of whom connect the dots of their father’s life post-blaze. The Cosby Show vet Erika Alexander is tragic and hilarious as Divine the Healer, a bogus evangelical faith healer who exploits her flock and keeps a shrine dedicated to Monster in hopes that he will someday return to her. There’s also Mykelti Williamson as the ambulance-chasing lawyer Chuck Hall, who helped keep Monster out of prison. The most effective supporting role belongs to Janelle Monae as the New Wife, who has suffered the abuses of Monster in their posh, California home. While she has decided to act out against him, she still feels entitled and superior to the sisters when they confront her with the brutal reality. Harris captures the complex class warfare that exists within Black culture with dialog that’s equal parts scathing and funny, often told through long monologues, in keeping with the film’s stage origins.
While Is God Is occasionally struggles to maintain the single-minded drive of its fearsome protagonists, the payoff is well worth the wait. With gallons of blood splashed on Izod shirts, boat shoes, and jean shorts alike, there’s a visceral thrill to the final confrontation and Monster’s matter-of-fact response to the death and destruction around him. Ultimately, the evil he has brought into Racine and Anaia’s lives can only be cured through love, understanding, and forgiveness. Revenge is an inferno that, if allowed to burn, will consume everyone and everything.
Is God Is opens in theaters on May 15th.
