Is God Is (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Aleshea HarrisRelease Date(s)
2026 (July 28, 2026)Studio(s)
Amazon MGM Studios/Viva Maude/Linden EntertainmentOrion Pictures (Alliance Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: A+
- Audio Grade: A+
- Extras Grade: F
Review
Award-winning playwright Aleshea Harris makes her feature filmmaking debut adapting and directing her 2018 play Is God Is and it’s really something to behold. Equal parts Greek tragedy and Spaghetti Western, Is God Is a piece of art that demanded to be seen. After some Obie-winning off-Broadway runs and an almost-crushed-by-COVID home-safe radioplay broadcast by the Wilma in Philadelphia in 2020, Harris brings it to full life on screen and makes it wholly her own.
Racine and Anaia are twin sisters living and working in the Dirty South. Anaia’s face is covered in burn scars, Racine’s left arm and hand are burned. Life has been hard for them, growing up in foster care—but they had each other and Racine always takes care of Anaia—especially when someone makes comments about her face. Racine has anger issues. After losing their job cleaning an office tower from one such burst of anger, they get a letter from their mother—Her in the play, God here in the film—who they thought was dead in the fire that scarred them. She calls for them to return to the Northeast, to see her on her deathbed, where she suffers from burns even worse than the girls. Once there, she gives them a mission—to kill their father, Man, for what he did to them. Man has set up with a new family (a wife and twin sons) on the West Coast and the fact that he might still be breathing after God dies ruffles her. Racine happily takes the mission. Anaia has some issues. The rest of the story deals with their mission, who they meet to get there and what they are willing to do when they come face to face with the person who made them who they are in every way. The performances by Kara Young as Racine, Mallori Johnson as Anaia and Sterling K. Brown as their father are what make the film—but everyone else is great too from Vivica A. Fox as their mother, Mykelti Williamson as their father’s attorney, Janelle Monáe as their father’s new wife on to supporters Erika Alexander and Josiah Cross an older lover of their father’s and his son, their half-brother and the twin brothers, ying to their yang Justen Ross and Xavier Mills. Harris had a great cast and knew what to do with them. If you get a chance to check Is God Is out, you should do so—it’s not for everyone, but it’s well done and well worth the watch.
Video is a bright and nicely detailed presentation with great skin tones, hard blacks and really presents the make-up effects nicely. It’s a very good 1080p in 2.39:1 anamorphic transfer. Audio is an immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. There’s also a less broad Dolby Digital 5.1 in Spanish and French Canadian as well as an English Descriptive Audio track and English (SDH), Spanish and French subs. Shamefully there is not a single special feature (not even a trailer) and that sorta sucks. Harris is a fascinating artist, and I’d have loved to hear at least a commentary onboard. The only blemish on a really good Blu-ray release.
- Todd Doogan