Fraternal twins Racine (Kara Young) and Anaya (Mallory Johnson) have always had only each other. After a childhood moving from one abusive foster home to another, the two settle into a life together where sisterhood always comes first. Both sisters suffer burns on their bodies, but Anaya’s facial scars make them stand out. And if someone bothers Anaya, Racine is there to fight for her.
We see this at the beginning of Alicia Harris’s first feature film, Is it God?. In a black-and-white flashback, the young twins are sitting peacefully on a bench together, until some kids walk up and call Anaya ugly. Racine quickly gets up, punches the bullies, then goes back to sit next to her sister. In the present, the twins are fired when Racine defends her sister at work. They are both newly unemployed when Racine tells Anaya that she has been communicating with their estranged mother (Viveca A. Fox). Soon, the twins pack up and hit the road, driving their highly cinematic classic on the back roads of the American South.
Is it God?
Bottom line Flat visuals detract from the lively acting and rich text.
release date: Friday, May 15
ejaculate: Kara Young, Mallory Johnson, Vivica A. Fox, Sterling K. Brown, Janelle Monae, Mykelti Williamson, Erika Alexander, Xavier Mills, Justin Ross, Josiah Cross
Writer and director: Alicia Harris
1 hour and 39 minutes
Once they arrived, their mother gave them a simple task: kill their father. In flashback, we learn that they were a family until their mother got a restraining order against their father (Sterling K. Brown). One night he violated the restraining order and entered the house, hoping to cuddle with his wife. But when she didn’t reciprocate, he pushed her into the bathtub, poured lighter fluid on her and set her on fire. He also brings his twin daughters into the bathroom to see their mother burning – their scars are the result of their desperate attempts to save their mother.
Meanwhile, their father drops out of their lives completely. Although their mother survived the burns, she was unable to care for them. Now that her daughters are grown and on the verge of death, she cannot rest until the man who tried to kill her is dead. Unfortunately, the three women have no idea where to find the wayward patriarch.
Harris’ screenplay follows the classic “hero’s journey” template, as the twins hit the open road, meeting a variety of eccentric characters in search of their mysterious father. The first stop is a church run by the attractive Divine (Erika Alexander), a self-described therapist. The twins also meet their half-brother Ezekiel (Josiah Cross), who later becomes a problem. Fortunately, Divine has kept all of their father’s belongings, and they steal his address book, which leads them to his former lawyer, Chuck (Mykelti Williamson).
Eventually, the sisters arrive at their father’s house, meeting his new wife (Janelle Monáe), their twin brothers (Xavier Mills, Justin Ross), and eventually the man himself. Racine and Anaya’s journey mirrors that of the bride in Quentin Tarantino’s two-part epic Kill Billas they follow a bloody path of revenge before a final showdown. Fox’s presence in the film is another reminder. In Tarantino’s film, Foxx is murdered by the bride (Uma Thurman) and tells her daughter that she might seek revenge when she grows up. Racine and Anaya, as spiritual successors, seek revenge through their own Bill, this darker and more mysterious man.
Is it God? It’s not just the story of one black family; It represents an almost universal example of the dysfunction inherent in many black American families. Black men, burdened by the exploitation of white people in the world, return to their families who bear the brunt of their external frustrations. Late in the film, when Anaya asks her father why he tried to kill her mother, his response is simple: She wouldn’t let me hold her. Not to mention she had a restraining order against him and legally he shouldn’t have been there; Even after spending all these years thinking about his actions, he continues to blame his ex-wife. There is a prevalent idea in the black community that a woman’s role is to quietly support the black men in her life, putting her own feelings and safety aside. Patriarch Brown is the embodiment of that unbalanced relationship, causing chaos and expecting more love and forgiveness in return.
The “god” in the title is Fox, the name given to her because she gave life to our heroines. Racine and Anaya are more than just sisters in this novel—they represent all the justifiably angry black girls who deserve more than the world has given them. Harris adaptation Is it God? From her play of the same name, the theatrical spirit lives on in the film through the rhythm and repetition of dialogue. The central performance is strong, with Brown perfectly embodying a sinister and otherworldly image of madness-ridden masculinity.
It’s a shame, then, that a film centered around these impressive actors is so visually flat. The south we see Is it God? It’s a desolate, densely populated area – too elegant and quiet for a story that should feel bigger. All the words sound right and everyone is in their place, but… Is it God? It seems like a less than great movie.
