Is God Is: A beautiful, brutal, and brilliant revenge epic

“Is God Is” opens with a burn. Two twin sisters, Sarah and Grace, watch their mother’s house catch fire in a flash of memory that feels less like recollection and more like a wound that never healed. The screen goes black, then cuts to them as adults, sitting in a sterile waiting room, their faces identical but their eyes carrying different weights. This is not a polite movie.

It is a revenge film that does not ask for permission to be ugly, beautiful, violent, and tender all at once. Directed by playwright Aleshea Harris in her feature film debut, “Is God Is” takes the bones of a classic revenge narrative and cracks them open. The result is a film that feels both ancient and brand new. I have not stopped thinking about it since.

Why Twins Matter in Revenge Cinema

Revenge films usually isolate their protagonist. Think of “John Wick” losing his dog, or “Oldboy” trapped alone for 15 years. The hero suffers alone, plans alone, kills alone. “Is God Is” rejects that solitude from its first frame. The twins, Sarah and Grace, share every scene. They share their mission, their trauma, and their violence.

This choice is not just a plot device. It changes the emotional geometry of revenge. When one twin hesitates, the other pushes forward. When one breaks down, the other holds the line. They are two halves of a single engine. I have directed films where a single protagonist carries the entire emotional load. It is exhausting for the actor and the audience. Harris understood that doubling the lead doubles the tension, not the resolution.

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson deliver performances that feel like a duet. Young plays Sarah, the more volatile twin. Johnson plays Grace, the strategist. Their chemistry is so precise that you forget you are watching two actors. You believe they share a brain. This is rare. I have seen twin performances that rely on gimmickry. This one relies on craft. The film never explains why they are twins. It does not need to. Their bond is the story.

The film’s title “Is God Is” echoes through their dialogue. They ask each other if God sees them, if God abandoned them, if God is watching now. The answer, by the end, is that they are each other’s god. That is the twist. Not a plot twist in the “Memento” sense, but a thematic one. The only divine presence in their lives is the sister beside them.

Aleshea Harris: From Stage to Screen

Aleshea Harris wrote “Is God Is” as a play first. It premiered off-Broadway in 2018 to critical acclaim. The play won the Obie Award for Playwriting. Harris adapted it for the screen herself. That is important. Many playwrights lose their voice when translating to film. Harris did not. She kept the language poetic, the violence stylized, and the structure tight.

The film runs exactly 100 minutes. That is lean for a revenge epic. Harris trusts her audience to keep up. She does not overexplain. The twins receive a letter from their mother, who they thought died in the fire. She is alive. She tells them to find their father, the man who set the fire, and kill him. That is the whole setup. No prologue, no flashback to childhood. Just a mission.

Harris wrote the screenplay with a clear eye on the revenge canon. She has cited “Kill Bill” and “Oldboy” as influences. But she also brought something new. Her background in theater means she knows how to build tension with dialogue, not just action. The scenes where the twins argue about their plan are as gripping as the fight sequences. That is rare in this genre.

As a director who also wrote the script. It can be a trap. You fall in love with your own words and refuse to cut them. Harris did the opposite. The film is economical. Every line serves the story. Every pause carries weight. She made the transition from stage to screen look effortless, but I know how hard that is. It takes discipline and a clear vision.

The Southern Gothic Visual Language

Alexander Dynan shot “Is God Is” with a palette that feels like a bruise. Deep purples, sickly greens, and the orange of fire. The film looks like it was developed in a swamp. That is a compliment. The Southern Gothic aesthetic is hard to pull off without veering into parody. Dynan avoids that by grounding every frame in the characters’ perspective.

The opening shot of the burning house is not a spectacle. It is a nightmare. The camera stays low, almost at ground level, as if the fire is a living thing crawling toward the viewer. Dynan used natural light wherever possible. The result is a film that feels tactile. You can almost smell the smoke and the damp earth.

The twins are often framed together, even in wide shots. Dynan keeps them in the same plane of focus, so the audience never forgets they are a unit. When they split up, the frame feels empty. That is intentional. The film’s visual language reinforces its theme. Alone, they are incomplete. Together, they are unstoppable. But they are also living inside their own trauma.

Joseph Shirley’s Score: The Sound of Rage

Joseph Shirley composed the score for “Is God Is”. His work on the “Creed” films and “The Underground Railroad” prepared him for this. The score is sparse. Long stretches of the film have no music at all. Only ambient sound. The crackle of a fire. The hum of a highway. The breath of the twins.

When the music does arrive, it hits hard. Shirley uses a low, throbbing bass that feels like a heartbeat. Strings enter only during moments of violence. They are dissonant, almost painful. This is not a score that comforts the audience. It unsettles them. That is the right choice for a revenge film.

I have directed projects where the composer wanted to fill every silence. I had to push back. Silence is a tool. Shirley understands that. He uses silence to build tension, then releases it with music. That is the sign of a composer who trusts the director and the script.

The Cast: Kara Young and Mallori Johnson

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson are the heart of “Is God Is”. Without their performances, the film would collapse. They carry every scene with a weight that feels lived-in, not performed. Young, as Sarah, is the explosive one. She cries, she screams, she fights. Johnson, as Grace, is the quiet one. She watches, she plans, she waits. Together, they create a dynamic that is electric.

Young has a background in theater, including a Tony-nominated performance in “Clyde’s”. She brings that stage training to the screen. Her movements are precise. She knows exactly when to hold still and when to lash out. Johnson, known for “Kindred” on Hulu, brings a stillness that is equally powerful. She can convey a lifetime of pain with a single glance.

Vivica A. Fox appears as the mother, who is bedridden and bandaged from the fire. Fox delivers a performance that is both monstrous and pitiable. She manipulates her daughters from her hospital bed, using guilt as a weapon. It is a small role, but Fox makes it unforgettable. Sterling K. Brown plays the father with a charm that masks his cruelty. He is terrifying because he seems so normal.

Janelle Monáe has a supporting role as a motel clerk who helps the twins. Monáe brings a warmth to the film that is otherwise absent. Her character is a reminder that kindness exists, even in a world of violence. The casting is flawless. Every actor understands the tone of the film and commits to it fully.

Where “Is God Is” Fits in Revenge History

Revenge films have a long and bloody history. “Is God Is” belongs in that lineage. It stands alongside “Oldboy” (2003) for its emotional brutality. It shares DNA with “Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2” (2003-2004) for its stylized violence and female rage. It echoes “Memento” (2000) for its fractured sense of time and memory.

But “Is God Is” is not derivative. It takes the tropes of the genre and bends them. The twins are not lone wolves. They are a pack. The revenge is not about honor or justice. It is about survival. The film asks a question that few revenge movies dare to ask: What happens after the revenge is complete? The answer is not catharsis. It is emptiness.

The film also owes a debt to “Django Unchained” (2012) and “Inglourious Basterds” (2009). Both films use revenge as a vehicle for exploring historical trauma. “Is God Is” does the same, but on a personal scale. The father’s violence is not just domestic. It is generational. The twins are not just avenging their mother. They are breaking a cycle.

I have watched most of the great revenge films. “Gladiator” (2000) is about honor. “John Wick” (2014) is about grief. “Is God Is” is about something harder to name. It is about the bond between sisters who have only each other. That makes it unique. That makes it essential.

Family Trauma and Domestic Violence

“Is God Is” does not shy away from the reality of domestic violence. The father’s abuse is shown in fragments. A bruise on the mother’s arm. A scream from another room. Pieces of his face slowly intercut during the movie… Harris trusts the audience to fill in the gaps. She does not need to show every blow. The aftermath is enough.

The film also addresses bullying. The twins grew up with a disability. One of them has a limp. The other has a scar. They were mocked, isolated, and beaten. The film shows this in flashbacks that are brief but brutal. Harris is not interested in pity. She is interested in how pain shapes people.

The mother is a complicated figure. She is a victim, but she is also an abuser. She uses her daughters as weapons. She manipulates them from her bed. The film does not let her off the hook. It shows that trauma can be passed down like a curse. The twins must break that cycle or repeat it.

This is where the film’s title becomes clear. “Is God Is” is a question, not a statement. The twins ask it throughout the film. Is God present in their suffering? Is God watching? By the end, they have their answer. God is not in the sky. God is in the sister who holds you while you bleed.

The Blaxploitation Echo

“Is God Is” has a 1970s flavor. The costumes, the music, the attitude. Harris has acknowledged the influence of blaxploitation cinema. Films like “Coffy” (1973) and “Foxy Brown” (1974) featured Black women taking revenge on oppressive systems. “Is God Is” updates that tradition for a modern audience.

The blaxploitation influence is not just aesthetic. It is political. Those films were about Black empowerment in a white supremacist society. “Is God Is” is about Black women reclaiming their bodies and their futures. The twins are not fighting for justice in a courtroom. They are fighting for their own survival. That is a radical act.

Harris also borrows the stylized violence of blaxploitation. The fight scenes are choreographed like dances. Blood splatters in arcs that are almost beautiful. The film is not realistic. It is operatic. That is a choice that honors the genre while pushing it forward.

I grew up watching blaxploitation films on VHS. They were raw, messy, and alive. “Is God Is” captures that energy. It is a film that knows its history and uses it. It is not a homage. It is a continuation.

Budget and Box Office: A Cult Film in the Making

“Is God Is” was made on a budget of $14.8 million. That is modest for a feature film with this cast and scope. The box office stands at $4.8 million as of its release. That number does not tell the whole story. This is a film that will find its audience over time, not in one weekend.

The film opened in limited release before expanding. Word of mouth has been strong. Critics have praised it. Audiences have been divided. Some find the violence too intense. Others call it a masterpiece. That is the mark of a cult film. It polarizes. It provokes.

Harris did not make a film for everyone. She made a film for people who need it. Survivors of domestic violence. Sisters who have protected each other. Fans of revenge cinema who want something new. That audience is smaller than the “John Wick” crowd, but they are loyal. They will keep this film alive for years.

I have seen this pattern before. A film that does not break box office records but becomes a touchstone. “Oldboy” did it. “Memento” did it. “Is God Is” will do it. The numbers do not matter. What matters is the impact on the people who see it.

Final Take: Why This Film Matters

“Is God Is” matters because it centers Black women in a genre that often marginalizes them. Revenge films are dominated by men. “Is God Is” changes that. It shows that female rage is just as powerful, just as cinematic, and just as valid. That is a political statement, but it is also a creative one.

It is also about family trauma. It does not glamorize violence. It shows the cost. The twins do not emerge from their revenge unscathed. They are changed, broken, and maybe healed. The film does not offer easy answers. It offers a question. Is God is? The answer is up to you.

In my movie The Passport, I also talk about violence and its aftermath. I know how hard it is to balance brutality with humanity. Harris did it. She made a film that is both a thrill ride and a meditation on suffering. That is rare. That is why “Is God Is” will be remembered. If you have not seen it, see it. If you have seen it, see it again. It rewards repeat viewings.

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Cast and Crew

References and Further Reading

• Is God Is on Wikipedia — production details, cast and release history.
• Is God Is on TMDB — cast, crew, budget and box-office data.
• Is God Is on IMDb — full credits and technical specs.
• Aleshea Harris on Wikipedia — director background and filmography.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is “Is God Is” about?

“Is God Is” follows twin sisters Sarah and Grace who discover their mother survived a house fire set by their father. They embark on a mission to find him and exact revenge. The film explores themes of family trauma, domestic violence, and the bond between siblings.

Who directed “Is God Is”?

The film was directed by Aleshea Harris, making her feature film debut. Harris adapted the screenplay from her own Obie Award-winning play of the same name. She is a playwright and screenwriter known for her poetic and unflinching style.

Who stars in “Is God Is”?

The film stars Kara Young and Mallori Johnson as the twin sisters. Vivica A. Fox plays their mother, Sterling K. Brown plays their father, and Janelle Monáe appears in a supporting role. The cast delivers powerful performances across the board.

How does “Is God Is” compare to other revenge films?

It stands alongside classics like “Oldboy,” “Kill Bill,” and “Memento” for its emotional depth and stylized violence. However, its focus on twin protagonists and Black female perspectives sets it apart. The film is both a homage to the genre and a reinvention of it.

Is “Is God Is” based on a true story?

No, the film is not based on a true story. It is adapted from Aleshea Harris’s original play. However, the themes of domestic violence, family trauma, and survival are drawn from real human experiences that Harris researched and observed.