Actors Kara Young (left) and Mallori Johnson (right) with filmmaker Aleshea Harris (middle) on the set of their film “Is God Is,” from Amazon MGM Studios (Photo Credit: Patti Perret/2026 Amazon Content Services LLC).
(“Is God Is” trailer courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios and Orion Pictures)
Thank you, Alesha Harris.
The writer and director of “Is God Is” must have said to hell with it.
Forget the Hollywood formula; she obviously decided in her mind that she wanted to create the wildest, craziest, weirdest, and most unique movie in a long time.
Luckily for moviegoers, Harris succeeds with “Is God Is,” a strange revenge tour of a movie that somehow packs a message in the end about the dangers of vengeance, and how trying to bring someone else down could eventually lead to one’s own downfall.
What makes “Is God Is” especially gut-wrenching is that art often imitates life.
The news is inundated with parents who hurt their children and adults who go out of their way to hurt their spouses or partners.
Often, the damage done cannot be erased, even if the injuries are not fatal.
When the injuries are not fatal, the victims are still left to deal with the scars that often follow them through life, possibly ruining a potentially beautiful life.
In “Is God Is,” Man (Sterling K. Brown) is definitely not the man.
He is actually the opposite of a man.
Man is more like the devil in the flesh.
He is so despicable that he might take his place on top of the Mount Rushmore of the most hated male characters in Black Hollywood history.
What Man does to his wife and children makes Mister from “The Color Purple,” Ike Turner from “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and any of the Black men from Tyler Perry movies look like a saint.
Instead of leaving his baby mother and abandoning the kids, he does something far worse.
Children are often scarred by the bad decisions of the adults around them.
But while emotional scars sometimes heal, many physical scars do not.
Unfortunately, that is the case for twin sisters Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson).
Man’s actions leave them physically disfigured.
Their mother’s decision leaves them abandoned to the care of foster parents, who do not always have their best interests.
And that leaves them to fend for themselves, enduring harassment and bullying from their peers for their disfigured looks.
While Anaia is more emotional and sensitive, Racine is more “bout it, bout.”
When boys call Anaia ugly because of her scarred face, Racine tries her best to do physical damage to the boys’ faces with any weapon that she can get her hands on.
When colleagues on their cleaning job gasp at Anaia’s face, Racine does what she must do to protect her sister’s feelings, even if it means termination from the job.
Therefore, it is no surprise that when the twins’ long-lost mother, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), reaches out to her daughters after many years with a proposition, Racine is with the business, while Anaia shows trepidation.
In “Is God Is,” Ruby tells her daughters that she cannot get any peace until she gets some payback with Man.
Racine looks at it like Smokey on “Friday.”
The sisters do not have a job and they ain’t got s*** to do.
But Anaia does not believe the twins have what it takes to get the type of revenge that Ruby wants.
Furthermore, what if Ruby is not telling the truth?
And why should the twins do anything that she suggests after she abandoned them for all those years?
The Bible says, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.”
But forgiveness is easy when a person is not reminded all day and every day about how someone did them wrong.
Forgiveness is easy when a person does something that does not permanently ruin someone’s life.
And forgiveness is harder when the offender seemingly gets away scot-free.
But on the other hand, holding a grudge only hurts the holder of that grudge.
And when people dig someone else’s grave, they often must dig one for themselves right next to it because their anger might destroy them, too.
RegalMag.com rarely gives shout-outs to makeup artists in its movie reviews.
But makeup artist Kendel Bernard and the entire makeup department deserve as many flowers as possible because they did the darn thing in “Is God Is.”
Additionally, the entire cast does the darn thing.
While Young and Johnson are the stars of “Is God Is,” Erika Alexander has the most iconic performance as Divine, a crooked, corrupt and cursing prophetess at a hole-in-the-wall church house.
Although she has some history with Man, her history is not quite like Ruby’s story.
Another woman with a history with Man is Angie, played by Janelle Monae (“Hidden Figures”).
What makes Monae’s appearance so classic is the scene of Angie jamming out to Prince and The New Power Generation’s hit song “Thunder” because Monae had a friendship with the late, great Prince.
Mykelti Williamson also appears in “Is God Is” and gives a memorable and mute performance as attorney Chuck Hall.
But the real star of “Is God Is” is the filmmaker, Harris.
Although some of the scenes in “Is God Is” are too gory and brutal to watch, Harris brilliantly succeeds in creating something that goes so against the Hollywood grain that she might soon join the pantheon of the best filmmakers in the game, alongside the likes of Ryan Coogler and Jordan Peele.
And for her brilliance and creativity, Harris deserves a sincere thank you and all the respect from the Hollywood machine.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
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