Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother review - Mahershala Ali as a grieving hitman in soulful thriller

By the Editorial Team · Monday, September 14, 2026

Mahershala Ali stars in "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother," a thriller blending neo-western elements with a family drama centered on a hitman navigating faith, grief, and caregiving. The film’s nuanced portrayal of Muslim identity and moral complexity highlights the protagonist’s struggle to balance violence and paternal duty, with a limited release starting September 25 in select U.S. cities.

“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” a new thriller starring Mahershala Ali, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is set for limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on September 25, followed by a wider rollout in early October. The film, written and directed by Bassam Tariq, blends elements of a neo-western thriller with an intimate family drama rooted in faith, grief, and identity.

Ali portrays Latif, a hitman with a complex moral code who balances his violent profession with his role as a father. The character is depicted carrying diapers while dressed in a kilt, signaling the film’s collision of brutality and caregiving. This duality unfolds immediately in the film’s opening, which features an intense close-quarters fight scene followed by Latif methodically cleaning up with baby wipes, underscoring the contradictions at the core of his life.

The collaboration between Tariq and Ali follows their earlier, now-abandoned involvement in a reboot of the Marvel vampire-slayer film "Blade," a project on which both had worked but that was ultimately shelved after years of development. While “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” includes some thematic echoes—such as John Cho playing a vampiric antagonist—its story and focus remain distinct.

At its heart, the film explores how Latif’s Muslim faith influences his actions, grief, and interactions within his family and community. Both Tariq and Ali are Muslim, and this film marks a more nuanced depiction of the religion, in contrast to Tariq’s previous works that addressed youth grappling with their faith. Latif, once a teacher at a prayer school, views his role as a hitman as a form of justice aligned with his beliefs, though he faces critical challenges from an Imam played by Giancarlo Esposito.

The narrative is propelled by Latif’s efforts to care for his young children following the death of his wife, who is shown being tended to by the community in Houston (the film was shot in Atlanta). A significant portion of the drama revolves around his search for breast milk for his infant daughter—a personal crisis inspired by Tariq’s own experiences. As Latif struggles to secure help from medical professionals and the local milk bank, he must reconcile these practical necessities with his religious principles, especially when accepting aid from a breastfeeding sex worker portrayed by Tiffany Boone.

The film further complicates these themes through Latif’s entanglement in a conflict involving his employer’s son, a producer of “Habibi porn,” and Pastor Hwan Yoon, played by John Cho. Yoon is a former Iraq War veteran turned evangelical preacher, who exerts violent control over his followers. Tariq navigates this tension carefully, avoiding reductive religious stereotypes and offering a layered exploration of faith, morality, and reconciliation.

“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” also addresses the everyday challenges of faith, including questions about fasting, scripture interpretation, and youth culture, as Latif and his eldest daughter, Fatiha (Adia), negotiate their identities within a modern context.

The film has been praised for its soulful storytelling and complex characterizations, highlighting the often-contradictory nature of faith and human experience without resorting to clichés. It aims to offer a compassionate portrait of love, loss, and the quest for meaning amidst violence and hardship.

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