I have seen two films this year with stars from Stranger Things, the first one being Spree, with Joe Keery, and now Yes, God, Yes, with Natalia Dyer.
Yes, God, Yes is a coming of age, comedy/drama, that is about a devoutly catholic school girl who begins to have sexual desires after a AOL chat becomes very steamy.
Natalia Dyer’s performance as Alice is obviously one of the best aspects of this film. The way she depicts a young catholic woman who is completely unaware of acts of lasciviousness, is very engaging and quiet funny. Her facial cues, and subtle movements accurately portray most people in that. situation. The script is tight and clever, adding to the humor of the film, but also the seriousness. It is directed adequately, and the look of the film competently represents a real life scenario.
With this specific subject matter, despite the setting being in a earlier decade, I do still believe this plot is a bit dated. Now if they were to add a different perspective, or really challenge it’s characters, than this would be something else entirely. I admit to this film bringing up some important issues, and themes, but it also left me pretty underwhelmed. If they went the extra mile, and maybe went for a darker and surreal approach, than it would be significantly more impactful. The runtime clocks in at about 78 minutes, which I actually thought was shorter than it should’ve been. If it had been longer to flesh out our main character, that would’ve been nice. The film is also victim to being formulaic. However, most of the critiques I have brought up are fairly minimal, and are more personal to my own taste.
In all honesty, Yes, God, Yes is a funny wholesome coming of age film with irreverent undertones. It has a charming lead performance, and a quick witted script. It’s on Netflix, and I recommend it.
Cedric Cinema 