Discover The Best Movies and TV Shows Like Yes, God, Yes Right Now

Set in the early 2000s in the American Midwest, *Yes, God, Yes* follows sixteen-year-old Alice, a seemingly typical Catholic high school student trying to navigate her burgeoning sexuality under the oppressive weight of religious dogma. Alice is active in her church youth group, hanging out with friends and grappling with the confusing boundaries of teenage life, where peer pressure and moral policing constantly collide. Her internal conflict reaches a boiling point during an AOL Instant Messenger chat with an older boy from school, which unexpectedly leads to arousing online experimentation.Guilt-ridden and terrified of eternal damnation, Alice believes she has committed a mortal sin. Desperate for spiritual cleansing, she signs up for a secretive, intensive three-day church retreat called "Kairos," hoping to find redemption and rid herself of her sinful urges. Upon arrival, the teenagers are separated by gender and subjected to rigid lectures about abstinence, purity culture, and the strict boundaries of modesty. The retreat leaders present sexuality as a dangerous, destructive force that must be aggressively suppressed, further heightening Alice's internal anxiety and confusion about her natural desires.Despite the heavy atmosphere of shame, the retreat fails to suppress adolescent hormones. Alice observes the hypocrisy of her peers and authority figures alike, noticing that the strict rules often mask secret indiscretions. During a truth-or-dare session, a game of spin-the-bottle, and late-night whispers, Alice is confronted with the reality that everyone is struggling with the exact same impulses. She engages in tentative, exploratory physical interactions with a supportive fellow attendee, which forces her to reevaluate her understanding of pleasure, morality, and self-worth.By the end of the retreat, Alice experiences a profound paradigm shift. Rather than accepting the dogmatic narrative that her body and desires are inherently evil, she begins to embrace her autonomy. In the film's climactic and liberating final moments, Alice attends a regular church service with her family. As the priest delivers a sermon condemning modern immorality, Alice catches the eye of a boy across the aisle and breaks into a knowing, confident smile. She finally rejects the paralyzing guilt imposed by her upbringing, stepping into a healthier, self-accepting understanding of her own identity and sexuality.