‘Is God Is’ Just Scored a Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Debut and Critics Are Calling It a Poem in Film Form

When playwright Aleshea Harris first began writing what would eventually become ‘Is God Is’, she was working multiple jobs to survive, including a stint at a bridal shop, while subletting an apartment in North Hollywood and drawing on food stamps. As Harris described it in a conversation with IndieWire, she found herself wondering what it would feel like to write a play inspired by ancient Greek tragedy, populated by people who look and speak like herself. That origin story now feels like the foundation of something genuinely historic.

The original stage play earned three Obie Awards, won the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award in 2016, and Harris later received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her subsequent work ‘On Sugarland’. For the film adaptation, she took on the role of writer and director, marking her feature directorial debut, with the project distributed by Amazon MGM Studios through Orion Pictures and released in theaters on May 15, 2026.

The critical reception has matched the weight of that history. ‘Is God Is’ debuted with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 94 reviews, alongside an 89% audience approval rating on the Popcornmeter. The film has also earned the Critics Choice Association’s Seal of Distinction for Film, an honor given to new releases that receive a high Critics Choice Ratings score in weekly voting by the CCA.

The film follows fraternal twin sisters Racine and Anaia, played by Kara Young and Mallori Johnson, both carrying burn scars from childhood. Their bedridden mother sends them on a violent mission to find and kill their father, a quietly menacing Sterling K. Brown, who set the fire that scarred the family. Their journey leads them through an unforgettable series of encounters, from a faith healer played by Erika Alexander to a mute storefront lawyer played by Mykelti Williamson, and eventually to their father’s new wife, played by Janelle Monáe, a figure who is both pampered and abused.

Critics have noted that the film blends a Grecian-inflected epic with Western tropes and Afropunk sensibilities, and the Rotten Tomatoes consensus celebrates it as a ferocious, original poem on sisterhood that charts territory few films dare to explore. The film’s spaghetti-western-inspired score from Joseph Shirley and Moses Sumney has drawn widespread praise from reviewers, with the ensemble cast credited for bringing distinct personality to each character.

Monáe, one of the film’s stars, has been vocal in her admiration for Harris’s vision, describing her as having found a tone as a director that few artists ever locate, comparing the specificity of Harris’s voice to having its own language entirely. The film was produced by Tessa Thompson and Janicza Bravo, among others, with Bravo having been instrumental in encouraging Harris to step into the director’s chair herself.

For a first-time feature director adapting work so deeply rooted in theatrical language, the response to ‘Is God Is’ is nothing short of staggering. It is shaping up to be one of the boldest and most discussed films of the year, and the conversation around it feels far from over. Are you planning to catch ‘Is God Is’ in theaters, and does a nearly perfect critical score from a first-time director change how much you want to see it?