Is God Is | Official Trailer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nPOSITIVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If first impressions truly are everything in this turbulent industry, then Aleshea Harris has cemented an undying legacy as a result of a flashy directorial debut that not only feels like a propulsive siesta of stimulating sensorial transfixion, but also one that resurrects the grindhouse blacksploitation films of the 70’s, particularly with its abundance of presentational expressionism utilized to immerse us effortlessly into the depths of this blood-thirsty quest of revenge for these avenging sisters. Long before you ever have a chance to indulge in the thematic impulses of a profoundly invigorating screenplay with plenty to say about the complexities of redemption, black girl rage, and the unsuppressed wounds that misogynoir leaves on family households, you’re immediately enamored by the cinematic flare of Alexander Dynan’s swelteringly muggy cinematography visualizing an introspective scope on the tethered psychology of these many victimized characters, where seamless transitioning, weathered color pallets, and steamy scenery effectively contextualize the kind of amped up personality that Harris was attempting in bringing her stage play to life for the silver screen, and considering the film’s most ambitiously elaborate sequences are reserved for those speaking directly to the audience, in which we dissect the motivational backstories of focused characters with overhead narration giving us a greater understanding of these individualized arcs, Dynan’s artistic allure feels unrestrained with the kind of limitless freedom that Harris allows him to sensationalize these visuals, with everything from abrupt camera zooms, to on-screen text, to even dissolved editing techniques, used to flourish the uniqueness in a presentation that feels so corrosively conductive than anything else currently playing in theaters. But while Harris concerns herself and her production with entrancing visual cues, the movie is never quite style over substance, as everything from the intricate depth of the characters, to the twin dynamic, feels fleshed out with an adorning psychology that makes each character feel lived-in with experience, especially Racine and Anaia, who are each bonded by the commonality of their mutual trauma, so much so that they can communicate telepathically with one another. While the supernatural aspect to the characterization might rub some people the wrong way, I found it an endearing touch for two characters who feel like outcasts to the outside world, particularly Anaia, whose facial scarring is the first, last, and most impressionable aspect to those she continuously comes into contact with, establishing a tenderly vulnerable demeanor that often requires Racine to act as the disciplinary force against those who have wronged her sister. It would be effortlessly easy enough for these respective dynamics to illustrate these characters one-dimensionally in their constructs, however Harris’ faithfully persistent observation of them, away from the vengeance arc, is the single most refreshingly endearing element to the script’s overarching outlining, conveying not only the idea how difficult it is to break free from the shackles of traumatic confinement, while also grappling with the back-handed realities of forgiveness. While the film certainly isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty while expressing the voracious impulses of its dangerous characters inside of an R-rating, it’s the evidence supplanted to shocking and overwhelming portrayals during justifiable attacks that are most conveying of the unforeseen differences between these sisters, where Racine’s uncontrollable anger and fearlessness has her acting out irrationally, while Anaia’s growth and maturity allows her to approach matters with much-required earnestness, and though the latter’s approach for civility typically lashes out against her, more times than not, it becomes painstakingly obvious how easy each of the sisters fall back into their expected roles with one another within this dynamic, serving as a cunningly cerebral kind of character study that offers plenty in the way of evidential transformation, especially with a couple of unforeseen twists in the script’s favor, which recontextualize the stakes and circumstances of their mission, at a time when these developments truly couldn’t be worse. This also helps the movie allude a larger than life shadow of similarly constructed genre predecessors, such as Kill Bill or Django Unchained, which might prematurely have audiences feeling like they’ve seen this kind of movie play out a hundred times before, but the combined ethnicity and gender of its characters is its single biggest opportunistic key towards unlocking an expansive scope on the impact of its social commentary, particularly these proudly black, proudly feminine qualities of Harris’ unflinching writing granting dimensionality to the aforementioned structural familiarities at play, without anything that feels heavily intrusive or distractingly detracting towards the consistency of the storytelling. This feels like the perfect time to transition into the prominence of performances, as Kara Young and Mallori Johnson dominate the film with a couple of chaotic portrayals, with this effortlessly natural brand of complimentary chemistry between them that tangibly elevates the invisible connective dynamic between them. While these twin girls are essentially birds of the same flock, they energize the movie’s momentum intently with what each of them bring to the dissected table, with Johnson’s timid tenderness playing poetically against Young’s aggressive resilience, allowing the film to not only build tension from the vast design of their opposing energies continuously clashing against one another, but also meaningful synergy in the ways they constantly come together to form a connective commonality, especially in the aforementioned telepathic scenes, where the boldness of their respective registries convey crystal clear insight between them, even if the on-screen dialogue text wasn’t present to literally spell it out. While Young’s resiliently brash demeanor conjures a combustible screen presence that could blow devastatingly on any scene she accompanies, it’s actually Johnson whom I feel does most of the movie’s heavy lifting while inside a conforming fragility that requires her to constantly keep her emotions at check, despite her scarred appearance making those matters difficult against those who judge her, and with the advantage of some believable make-up designs and prosthetics obscuring her familiarity in the role, we’re uncontested in our ability to see her as the character, instead of the actress portraying her, allowing a stunning transformation that physically and emotionally feel in-tune to what Harris demands of the character. Likewise, despite really only fifteen minutes of screentime, Sterling K. Brown is a force to be reckoned with in the most darkly depraved role of his storied career, where Brown’s nonchalant expressions feel so frustratingly unapologetic that you grow to hate his unregistered awareness and lack of responsibility in the monsters that he’s single-handedly created, and considering his arrival comes expectedly during the movie’s climax, his presence entices a noticeably increasing tension that isn’t always prominent throughout the movie’s entirety, allowing us an unforeseen side of Brown that is chilling to the core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEGATIVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While that climax certainly helps restore some of the good graces of Harris’ execution, there are some circumstantial speedbumps in the extent of the many missions before the twins father, that occasionally feel like chores to get through, without any semblance of tension or urgency driving them compellingly for audiences to maintain a vested interest. That’s not to say that I was ever bored with the film, it’s just that constantly throughout the second act, the film takes one too many detours in its finished objective, in order to give us a deeper sense of knowledge with the motivations of Brown’s daddy character, and considering it transpires with so very little struggle for the girls to overcome, whether physically or psychologically, it underscore the attainable stakes in ways that detracted significantly from an effortlessly indulging opening act, in turn making me wish that less time was dedicated to these scenes that did little to entice my investment, and more time was given to the tensely riveting reunion between father and daughters, the likes of which nearly made everything previous to it feel worthwhile. Aside from a lack of creative tension throughout the second act of the film, my only other problem with the finished execution pertained to some physicality among characters that was so sloppily mishandled that it leaves some glaringly artificial motions in the film that don’t even remotely make contact with the characters they aim to devastate. This is especially the case during the confrontation between Anaia and her father, with the former enacting some of the most lifelessly distracting kicks that I’ve ever seen put to a major studio theatrical film, and while I could easily forgive this glaring offense if it were a singular offense throughout the movie’s 94-minute runtime, there’s actually quite a few instances where the lack of energy left physical conflicts feeling all together underwhelming, in turn undercutting the prominent pay-off between classless characters not feeling anywhere as satisfying as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OVERALL
Is God Is cements a viscously visual and lyrically profound worship-worthy directorial debut for playwright, Aleshea Harris, whose electric expressionism in presentation elicits an infectious energy that channels blacksploitation films of the 70’s, alongside an equally gripping script that candidly dissects the steep cost of vengeful bloodshed at its most unrelenting. While the film hits a few speedbumps on its way to its revenge road trip, it’s kept full steam ahead by standout performances from Kara Young and Mallori Johnson, as well as its exploration on the burden of generational trauma, surmising a boldly brutal blast that sneaks up on you in the best kind of way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Grade: 8.1 or B+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Directed By Aleshea Harris Starring – Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Vivica A. Fox The Plot – Sisters Racine (Young) and Anaia (Johnson) embark on an epic quest for revenge; confronting a charged family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths to enact vengeance on an abusive father (Sterling K. Brown) Rated R for strong\/bloody […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9666"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9668,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9666\/revisions\/9668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}