Why You Need to See ‘Is God Is’ on Opening Night (And Why Sterling K. Brown Needs Therapy)

Directed by: Aleshea Harris

Screenplay by: Aleshea Harris

Based on: Is God Is

Produced by: Tessa Thompson, Kishori Rajan, Riva Marker, Janicza Bravo, Aleshea Harris

Executive Producers: Stacy O’Neil, Nicole King, Kenneth Yu

Starring: Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Cross, with Vivica A. Fox and Sterling K. Brown

Run Time: 100 minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: May 15, 2026

“‘Oh, I have to check this movie out!’” was my friend’s immediate reaction after watching the first trailer for Is God Is, and honestly, I felt the same way. We talked about how stylish, chaotic, and fun it looked, especially with its stellar cast and intriguing premise. But what surprised me most after watching the film early on with Howard University film students last month was how much lay beneath all that violence, humor, and good acting. By the end of the film, I had already made up my mind that this was one of my favorite films of the year.

Directed by Aleshea Harris, who also wrote the play it is based on, the film blends revenge-western aesthetics, dark comedy, Southern Gothic atmosphere, and family trauma into something that feels both theatrical and cinematic. It is messy at times, occasionally uneven in pacing, but never boring. More importantly, it understands that revenge is rarely just about violence. Sometimes, it’s about collecting what’s owed.

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson’s Sisterhood Is Fueled by Rage and Revenge

At the center of the film are Racine and Anaia, twin sisters shaped by unimaginable trauma and bound together by love for each other. 

Kara Young plays Racine with a volatile physicality that feels both frightening and deeply sympathetic. From the film’s opening, where a younger Racine violently defends Anaia from bullies who mock her burn scars, Harris establishes who this character is: a protector willing to destroy anyone who threatens her sister.

As the film moves along, Racine gets more dangerous, but Young never lets her slip into being one-note. There’s an exhaustion living right under that rage. A burden under the violence. And while Anaia is the one with the visible scars, Racine often feels like the one who’s more wounded, carrying the internal wreckage for both of them.

Young’s performance reminded me of a blend between Cleo from Set It Off and Joshua from Jason’s Lyric, emotionally guarded, fiercely loyal, and unpredictable enough to make every interaction tense.

Meanwhile, Mallori Johnson gives Anaia a quieter emotional presence. She is softer, more hopeful, and seemingly less willing to surrender entirely to violence. But Johnson reveals that Anaia’s gentleness is not weakness. There is a protectiveness inside her, too, especially when Racine is threatened. Together, the two actors create a believable sisterhood in which love often exists through nonverbal understanding and collaborative butt-kicking. 

The Film’s Nonverbal Communication Is One of Its Best Running Gags

One of the funniest and smartest aspects of the film is how Harris utilizes nonverbal communication between the sisters. Through glances, facial expressions, and silent reactions, often translated through captions, the film creates the feeling that Racine and Anaia are communicating telepathically.

It works because it feels culturally familiar. Many Black audiences will instantly recognize those silent conversations exchanged at family functions, church services, or uncomfortable public moments. Harris transforms that social shorthand into both comedy and emotional storytelling.

Sterling K. Brown Creates One of the Year’s Most Disturbing Villains

Then there is Sterling K. Brown as “The Monster.” Brown is disturbingly terrifying here. Not simply because the character is violent, but because Harris presents him as the embodiment of wounded, performative masculinity, patriarchy, and misogyny, clearly shaped by the environment he was raised in and some serious mental instability. Honestly, that man needs therapy. Much of his face remains obscured throughout the film, turning him into something mythic rather than an evil father. His smile is spoken about almost like folklore, seductive to some, horrifying to others.

What makes Brown’s performance especially compelling is how Harris subtly mirrors aspects of his personality within both daughters. Racine inherits his rage and appetite for destruction, while Anaia reflects his calmer, more manipulative emotional presence. The sisters hate him, yet traces of him live within both of them. That contradiction becomes one of the film’s most unsettling ideas: trauma does not just wound families, it reproduces itself through them.

“Mom” Functions Like a Godfather Figure

After visiting their disfigured mother, Ruby, played by Vivica A. Fox, whom the sisters refer to throughout the film as “God”, the twins begin their revenge journey against their father. The setup immediately gives off Lady Snowblood vibes, with Harris framing the story like a modern Black revenge western. But what makes the film stand out is how motherhood is treated almost like religion and revenge at the same time.

Ruby is not simply asking her daughters to get payback. She commands it like a dying mob boss giving one final order. The sisters speak to her with a level of reverence that feels spiritual, almost as if they are carrying out the wishes of a godlike figure rather than just their mother. Harris does a great job blurring the lines between mother, creator, and God, while also showing how much emotional control parents can still have over their children, even as they mature into adulthood. 

This also ends up being one of Fox’s strongest performances in years. She brings intensity to the role, especially during the scene where she recounts the night The Monster nearly burned her alive and left both girls scarred too.

Janelle Monáe and Erika Alexander Add Layers of Pain, Faith, and Devotion

The supporting cast helps deepen the film’s emotional and thematic depth. Janelle Monáe plays “New Wife” with sadness hidden beneath visible wealth and luxury. Though her screen time is limited, Monáe communicates the feeling of a woman emotionally trapped inside a toxic marriage despite material comfort.

Meanwhile, Erika Alexander is phenomenal as Divine The Healer, a deeply religious woman emotionally consumed by her devotion to The Monster. Alexander plays her with the energy of someone caught between spiritual faith, delusion and obsession. Even while preaching publicly, she remains emotionally imprisoned by a man who abandoned her years ago.

Both performances reinforce the film’s broader exploration of how women survive, internalize or rationalize patriarchal violence differently.

Aleshea Harris Uses Close-Ups and Monochrome Cinematography Beautifully

Harris’ direction is one of the film’s strongest elements, which is especially impressive given her theater background. While many playwrights-turned-directors struggle to break free of the proscenium, often filming scenes as if we are watching a stage from a fixed distance, Harris uses the camera to collapse that space entirely. 

Inspired partly by revenge films like Kill Bill: Volume 1, she utilizes monochrome cinematography during flashback scenes to create tonal shifts that make memory itself feel haunting and fragmented. The black-and-white imagery gives the violence a mythic quality while also visually separating trauma from the present.

She also uses close-ups masterfully. By leaning into tight framing, Harris rejects the wide, theatrical view in favor of something deeply cinematic. Faces, hands, mouths, and other body parts serve as emotional storytelling devices throughout the film. 

Sometimes, Harris only reveals a character physically, forcing audiences to focus on expressions, gestures, or reactions rather than on full visual information. The effect creates tension while emphasizing how trauma often exists inside the body before it becomes language.

The Southern Atmosphere and Soundtrack Complete the Experience

The production design and soundtrack immerse viewers inside the film’s Southern Gothic world.

From open country roads to humid small-town environments and modern luxury homes, the film constantly shifts visually while maintaining a lived-in atmosphere. Harris uses camera angles and environmental framing to reflect how characters experience different spaces emotionally.

The soundtrack deserves special praise as well. Songs from Moses Sumney, Doechii, and There’s a Light help shape the film’s emotional rhythm. Whether through soulful melancholy, Southern hip-hop energy, or spiritual undertones, the music consistently enhances the atmosphere rather than distracting from it.

‘Is God Is’ Is Meant To Be Experienced With an Audience

What Harris creates here feels communal. This is the kind of film meant to be watched in a packed theater where audiences laugh together, gasp together, and spend the ride home trying to unpack what exactly they just witnessed.

Is God Is is violent, funny, strange, stylish, and emotionally heavy in ways that make it difficult to forget or stop talking about afterward. Beneath all the revenge and chaos is a story about inherited pain, survival, and the terrifying realization that parts of the people who hurt us can still live inside us.

And before anyone walks out of the theater hating the wrong man, let me remind you: Sterling K. Brown is not actually The Monster, even though he plays one of the year’s most terrifying villains so convincingly that you may need a few minutes to separate the actor from the character. That alone is worth the price of admission. I give the film an 8/10 and absolutely think it is worth seeing opening night.