A person’s faith can guide them in many ways, but it’s not always possible to square everything with religious teachings. Making a living is one challenge that may demand work which doesn’t align with a God-fearing lifestyle, and past mistakes can also invite lasting consequences that need to be dealt with and present a consistent roadblock to idyllic happiness. Unpredictable life cycle events can also be foundationally transformative and introduce new obstacles. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother explores this notion through a wholly originally story of a widowed Muslim hitman just trying to provide for his family who can’t get away from his professional troubles.
Latif (Mahershala Ali) is being pulled in a number of different directions. After dispatching of his latest target, he’s forced to clean his knife with a baby wipe, one of the few supplies he has with him. Unfortunately, his problems get bigger when he comes home to realize that he only has a day’s supply of breast milk left from his late wife and his baby has never taken formula. A visit to his imam Abdul Malik (Giancarlo Esposito) presents limited options, but, no matter what he tries to do, he can’t escape his relentless employer, Mike (Laith Nakli), and his nephew Hatty (Abubakr Ali), who has gotten himself into a war with a heavily armed preacher, Pastor Hwan (John Cho), and his cult of loyal followers.
This film brings director Bassam Tariq and Ali together after their planned Blade movie never materialized, and while this certainly has a different setup than that likely would have, there’s still a good deal of action to be found. It doesn’t feel gratuitous but is still stylized, with Latif not going for collateral damage but happy to show off a bit of flair in each of his attacks and kills that isn’t one hundred percent critical to the effectiveness of his fighting. The film’s title references an Islamic hadith that venerates the family matriarch, a fitting ode to the person for whom and in whose memory Latif does everything in this film.
The religious aspects of the storyline serve to ground and guide Latif, and also to add additional context to the story. It’s Ramadan and he wants to break the fast with his children, though he’s unaware that his daughter is at home snacking on chips. His faith isn’t something he’s willing to compromise, even if his imam is well aware of what he does for work and how he doesn’t feel it’s in line with what he teaches. That Hatty operates a porn site that he advertises as halal and Pastor Hwan is rebranding a strip chub as a church ahead of the next battle in his holy war only serves to underline that it’s not always an easy through line from beliefs to objective morality.
If the Blade movie ever were to still happen, audiences should be reassured that Ali is a very capable action hero, even if this character really wouldn’t want to be seen that way and would prefer a much quieter, more boring existence. Cho is chewing plenty of scenery here as a villain who could be seen as evil but is also far too similar to real-life evangelists willing to do whatever they need to achieve their version of paradise. Adia and Jahleel Kamara deliver the film’s best performances as Latif’s older children, who are also going through quite a lot but coping with it in different ways than their father. They’re both talents who deserve tremendous opportunities going forward.
This is most certainly not a film for everyone, containing its fair share of gore and unpleasant situations involving children in very immediate and troubling danger. But for those who can deal with those aspects, this is a solid thriller that feels distinctly different enough from other films thanks to this character’s background and the way that his devotion to Islam pushes him to be an incredible father to his children. It’s hardly a definitive movie about Islam or an entire religion, but it does put a fresh twist on an established genre and uses it to great effect.
Movie Rating: 7/10
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother makes its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released in theaters by Amazon MGM Studios on September 25th.
