A better experience than it is a movie, Is God Is is an invigorating, pulsing breath of fresh air about the joy of fire—even if you can see how it would work better as the play that it is than it does on the big screen. Writer/director Aleshea Harris pronounces herself as someone to watch with her theatrical debut, a fierce yet slightly strange tale of revenge told through the eyes of two traumatized sisters.
The first thing you’ll notice about Is God Is, besides its awkward title, is its riveting, intoxicating score. Is God Is hums with sound. Harris and composers Joseph Shirley and Moses Sumney make prime use of it, from its dazzling score to offbeat sound effects that add bursting color to the weird odyssey on display here.
The second thing you’ll notice is this movie has scars. From a burned head-to-toe Vivica A. Fox to star Mallori Johnson’s disfigured face, the effects of brutality pockmark every corner of the story. Kara Young’s Racine’s scars run deeper–her skin may be pure, but her piercing eyes reveal a darker truth. Let’s not even get going on Sterling K. Brown, who, in a small but prominent role demonstrates just how sinister men can be.
The third thing, oddly, is that despite great music, strong performances, a nasty villain and more than a few deaths, the pieces don’t quite come together as you’d expect. Is God Is is good, but the sum is lesser than its parts. For as much as the movie is about anger and disgust and revenge, it lacks real emotion–you’re watching the emotion, but you’re not feeling it. This isn’t uncommon for play adaptations, but there’s a style over substance sensation at play here that can’t be ignored.
Still, Is God Is has some cool elements that strongly suggest Harris has a lot of upward potential. The way the twin sisters communicate—sometimes verbally, often with their minds (subtitled for the rest of us)—is a fun angle that if anything is underutilized in the movie. And if there is a strange shallowness to the film that is hard to pinpoint, it’s nonetheless electrifying much of the time. That’s a vibe few filmmakers can hold a flame to.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.