The latest film from filmmaker Bassam Tariq, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, ultimately delivers a deeply emotional and provocative piece that tests the boundaries of faith and family with the violence of religious intolerance lurking in the background.
The film is focused on a devout, religious hitman named Latif (Mahershala Ali) who had been carrying out hits for his employer based on his own moral code. But, when his wife passes away, Latif is forced to protect his children via a desperate journey across the city of Houston as the deeds of his past resurface, threatening to close in on him from all sides while simultaneously questioning the stability of both his faith and family.
Writer/director Bassam Tariq (whose debut feature was the astounding Mogul Mowgli in 2020), delivers a deeply haunting and ambitious narrative that hits the mark on several levels. The layers of his psyche that Latif balances between his faith and keeping his family safe are intricately portrayed and make for a nuanced and often haunting story of one man’s descent into madness as his world unravels around him.
Tariq’s script somehow manages to harmonize both of Latif’s battling lives in a way that allows Ali’s work to shine through every second he is onscreen. His presence is a commanding one throughout the film as the depth of his devotion to his wife and family is played out through flashbacks and additional interactions with his children.
Those children, led by the teenage Adia (Fatiha) and her younger brother (Jahleel Kamara), must help Latif in his desperate search for formula for their infant sister (Jaclyn Martinez) while simultaneously staying out of sight from Latif’s former employers who feel he has betrayed them. As they grow to learn more about each other, their familial bond deepens and they forge a stronger familial bond.
Mahershala Ali in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” Photo by Amazon MGM Studios – © Courtesy of TIFF
While the film refrains from shot trickery or extensive use of cuts and cues, the keen editorial eye of Cam McLauchlin gives Akin McKenzie’s production design room to shine behind cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi’s lens. There is a subtle beauty at work within the film that, while it may not overtly call the viewer’s attention to given shots or moments, definitely succeeds to accentuating those items from scene to scene.
Although the perceived payoff of a film like this might suggest a more violent revenge tale in another filmmaker’s hands, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother benefits greatly from Bassam Tariq’s sure-handed and decisive direction as well as his majestic narrative voice. This, when combined with the stirring performances delivered by Mahershala Ali and, in particular, Adia (as his daughter), the film transcends what some may perceive as its genre’s limited boundaries to become something far more profound and timely than it may have been in another filmmaker’s hands.
WHERE TO WATCH: (powered by JustWatch)
| Producer: | Bassam Tariq, Lucan Toh, Babak Anvari |
| Release Date: | October 9, 2026 |
| Running Time: | 111 minutes |
| Starring: | Mahershala Ali, John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Abubakr Ali, Laith Nakli, Adia, Jahleel Kamara, Tiffany Boone, Tramell Tillman, John Henry Ward, Alyssa Gihee Kim, Ashley P. Jones, Aaron Goodson |
| Writer: | Bassam Tariq |
| MPAA Rating: | R (for violence/bloody images, language and some sexual content) |
| Director: | Bassam Tariq |
| Distributor: | Orion Pictures |
| External Info: | Official Website / #YourMotherMovie |
