Yes, God, Yes (2019) ***

 

Alice (Natalia Dyer), is a teen at a Catholic high-school. She is starting to be curious about sex, displaying more than a casual interest in the “Titanic” car-sex scene. She has never been kissed, but someone starts a rumor that she tossed a guy's salad, and now all the slut-shamers at her school are looking at her funny. The adults in her life are no help. Her parents are clueless, her teachers accept the rumor as true, and her priest is too busy teaching the evils of masturbation.

Humiliated by classmates eager to ostracize anyone who admits to the feelings that they are all having, Alice goes to a church retreat hoping to get rid of her scarlet letter. The rumor follows her there, as do her budding sexual feelings. At camp, she develops a crush, discovers masturbation and the internet, and learns that those who pretend to be the most pious can be the biggest sex-freaks.

As a vehicle for Natalia Dyer (whom you may recognize from “Stranger Things”), “Yes, God, Yes” works pretty well. The film started out as a short by writer/director Karen Maine, who got the opportunity to expand the story into a full-length film, with Dyer starring in both versions. I find Dyer to be a bit odd-looking, but appealing, with a really expressive face that she uses to good effect. The rest of the cast is pretty much what you would expect from a low-budget, indie film. None of them is going to break into the big time based on this project, but they get the job done.

The themes in “Yes, God, Yes” feel a bit dated. I mean, does anyone outside of a suicide cult still teach kids that they will burn in hell for masturbating, and are there still any kids who buy it? (Don't answer that question. I probably don't want to know.) When you look at the cellphones and computers in the film, though, you realize that it is set about 20 years ago. Maybe that makes it slightly less anachronistic? Anyway, the film does a good job satirizing faith leaders who make people feel like crap for having normal feelings, then secretly act on those feelings themselves. Like the poor, hypocrites will always be with us.

3 stars out of 5