Twin sisters scarred by childhood trauma set out on a cross-country odyssey of survival and reckoning that tests their bond and changes them forever. A film by Aleshea Harris, starring Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Cross, Vivica A. Fox, Xavier Mills, Justen Ross, Nuri Barnes, Navali Barnes, Noah J. Craig, Lindsey G. Smith, Rhonda Dents, Mark Druhet, Nolam Plaas, Lena Clark, Xavier E.F. Nealy, Alimah Muhammad, Jessica Bucanan, Rechelle Lindsey, and Sterling K. Brown.

Young twin sisters Racine (Nuri Barnes) and Anaia (Navali Barnes) have struggled ever since surviving a childhood fire that claimed the life of their mother, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox). Adding to their trauma, their father mysteriously disappeared after allegedly setting the fire.

Now adults, the sisters carry both the physical and emotional scars of that night. Racine (Kara Young) is bold and aggressive, her left arm marked by severe burns, while Anaia (Mallori Johnson) is gentle and soft-spoken, her face bearing the disfiguring scars she has lived with since childhood.

Anyone who ridicules or mistreats Anaia quickly learns what it costs them, as Racine steps in without hesitation, violently punishing those who mock her sister. Beyond their shared trauma, the two are connected by something far more mysterious. Without a single word, they can communicate and feel exactly what the other experiences, a psychic bond as unbreakable as it is unexplainable.

One evening, after the sisters lose their cleaning jobs, Racine receives a shocking letter. It is from their mother, the woman they had long believed died in the fire. Their mother is alive, living in the Deep South, and she is asking them to come to her.

Racine is ready to go without a second thought, but Anaia holds back. Anaia points out that they know absolutely nothing about this woman and questions why she is only reaching out after all these years. Despite the doubts, Racine is determined to make the trip. It is only when Racine shares one final detail that Anaia agrees to come along. Their mother is dying, and this may be their only chance.

The twins travel to Tennessee to visit their mother, a woman Racine refers to as “God” simply because she created them. They find her (Vivica A. Fox) confined to her bed and surrounded by a team of nurses. Confirming that she is dying, their mother finally explains her years of silence. She reveals that she stayed away to avoid becoming a burden, preferring her daughters believe she was dead. She bitterly mentions that nobody wants a mother who burned up in a fire and came out looking like an alligator.

Their mother finally shares the tragic truth about that fateful night. She tells the twins that their father, her ex-husband, broke into the house despite a strict restraining order. He strangled her until she lost consciousness, carried her to the bathtub, and poured unspecified liquid from his flask over her. While the young girls watched, he set her on fire and slowly walked away as she jolted awake screaming in pain. She reveals that the twins got their scars because they bravely tried to put out the flames, noting that Anaia’s face was severely scarred because she had been the closest to the fire.

As her final request before she dies, their mother asks the twins to track down their father and kill him, destroying everything around him if they have to. Believing he now lives with another woman, she urges them to kill his spirit first, and then his body, exactly as he did to her. The twins are taken aback, pointing out that it seems a little crazy to murder a man they barely know. Their mother disagrees, reminding them that this man set her on fire in front of her own children before abandoning them. He changed his name and started a new life as if nothing happened.

When the twins remain reluctant, she asks the nurses to remove the blanket covering her body, declaring she will have no peace until she knows he is gone. Horrified by the devastating sight of her full injuries, Racine accepts their mother’s dying wish.

Even though Racine promised their mother they would kill their father, Anaia remains against the idea of taking a human life. She argues that Racine is blinding herself to the truth and complains that she is being manipulated by their mother. Emotional and frustrated, Anaia is on the verge of walking away from her sister. Racine pleads with her to stay, arguing that seeking revenge is their life’s purpose. She urges Anaia to realize that their father is the root cause of all their suffering, asking her to imagine how different their lives would be if he had never started the blaze. When Anaia firmly insists that she is not a killer, Racine promises that she will not have to do anything she does not want to do. All she asks is that Anaia keep her company on the journey. Hearing this, Anaia finally agrees to go along.

Following their mother’s instructions, the twins track down a woman named Divine, the woman their father left with years ago. They arrive at a house on Perry Street with purple steps, only to discover that it is actually a makeshift church called the Holy House of the Conqueror. Inside, the twins watch in disbelief as Divine (Erika Alexander) leads her congregation in a frenzied, spirit-filled shouting session. The sisters try to leave when all the worshippers suddenly collapse to the floor, but Divine spots her new guests and invites them over to join.

Upon learning that the twins are looking for their father, Divine introduces her son Ezekiel (Josiah Cross), revealing him to be their half-brother. When the twins ask where their father is, Divine explains that he left after the trial while she was pregnant, promising to return and marry her. She shows them a cabinet where she treats his belongings like a shrine.

She then asks them for a favor. If they ever find him, they must tell him she is still waiting and that the church will be his upon his return. Racine mocks Divine for foolishly waiting for a man who abandoned her without a word. Deeply offended, Divine throws them out.

Anaia panics over losing their only lead, but Racine produces an address book she swiped from the cabinet. Flipping through it, they find a business card for Chuck Hall, presumably their father’s attorney. Their discovery is interrupted by Divine screaming in rage from inside the church. The twins speed off in their car, narrowly escaping as Ezekiel and several men rush outside to catch them.

Arriving at the attorney’s office, the twins are startled to witness Chuck Hall (Mykelti Williamson) being beaten by a woman (Lena Clark). The woman grabs some cash off his desk, hands Chuck an ice pack, and casually leaves.

When the sisters demand to know where their father is, Chuck tries to wave them off. He scribbles a warning on a whiteboard: “YOUR DAD = REAL BAD. LEAVE IT.” But the twins refuse to back down.

Chuck eventually reveals his tragic history with their father. Following the verdict of the trial, their father ripped out Chuck’s tongue so he could never speak the truth. Ever since that day, Chuck has abandoned criminal law, living in terror that their father will eventually return to tie up loose ends.

Racine assures Chuck that he will never have to live in fear again, vowing to kill their father herself if he just gives up the location. Swayed by her determination, Chuck finally relents and provides the sisters with their father’s current address. Before they leave, Chuck tells them that their father has two more sons, another set of twins.

🅟

@pradt

IS GOD IS 🔥
Revenge. Love. Sisterhood.
—
A film by Aleshea Harris, starring Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Cross, Vivica A. Fox, Xavier Mills, Justen Ross, Nuri Barnes, Navali Barnes, Noah J. Craig, Lindsey G. Smith, Rhonda Dents, Mark Druhet, Nolam Plaas, Lena Clark, Xavier E.F. Nealy, Alimah Muhammad, Jessica Bucanan, Rechelle Lindsey, and Sterling K. Brown.

Written and directed by American filmmaker Aleshea Harris in her feature debut, IS GOD IS is a dark comedy thriller that follows twin sisters on a vengeful mission to hunt down their father, the man responsible for their disfigurement. The film is adapted from Harris’s acclaimed 2018 Off-Broadway play, which won three Obie Awards: Playwriting for Harris, Directing for Taibi Magar, and Performance for Alfie Fuller as Anaia and Dame-Jasmine Hughes as Racine.

The Obie Awards are annual honors for off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater, recognizing outstanding productions and artists in New York’s independent theater scene. They were created by The Village Voice in 1956 to spotlight innovative work outside Broadway. The Obies don’t follow the same fixed categories as the Tonys; instead, they use flexible categories and special citations to honor whatever stands out in a given theater year. That makes them especially known for celebrating bold, experimental, and emerging work.

The cast delivers fantastic performances, and the film remains entertaining throughout as we follow the twins tracking down their allegedly evil father in the style of a classic detective movie. One clue leads to the next, and step by step, they get closer and closer to finding this elusive man.

I love how the film embraces ambiguity instead of handing us the whole picture. It never explicitly tells the audience who is good or bad, portraying each character as somewhere in between right and wrong. Even though we hear about the horrific incident that almost killed the family, and the mother and the girls themselves are living proof of the attack, it is still a one-sided story from the mother. Because of this, it creates a lingering sense of doubt, as we can never be absolutely sure that everything she tells the twins is the whole truth.

Thematically, the film reminds me of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill in the vengeful sense that the twins must embark on a mission to kill their father. However, this story feels much more grounded in reality because the twins are not highly trained assassins, and neither is their target.

Another great element is the use of twin telepathy, playing on the popular myth that twins can feel each other’s thoughts and physical pain from afar. This unique connection allows the twins to communicate without saying a single word to each other. Instead, all we see is their internal dialogue popping up on screen like text messages, a creative visual choice that is mostly hilarious and incredibly fun to watch.

IS GOD IS was theatrically released in the United States on 15 May 2026.