Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Director Bassam Tariq and lead actor Mahershala Ali first met when they were both hired to work on a planned reboot of Blade, but both eventually departed from the project after continuous production delays. One will never know what Blade could’ve been, but thankfully Tariq and Ali decided to reconnect to create Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a brutally introspective study into faith and what it means to be a father.

Ali plays Latif, a devout Muslim man and a hitman who targets people he believes are disrespecting and offending God, inflicting his own form of didactic retribution. In the middle of one of his contract kills, he learns that his wife has passed away, leaving him the sole carer of their three children. After promising his Sheik (Giancarlo Esposito) that he will step away from his profession, he is asked by his employer to commit one more kill for his nephew Hatty (Abubakr Ali) who produces Muslim-themed pornography to the enraged disdain of the intended target Hwan Yoon (John Cho), a gun-toting Christian religious leader. Chaos ensues and Latif finds himself drawn back into the violence he had hoped to leave behind.

Ali delivers a powerhouse performance as Latif. The well-choreographed fight scenes allow Ali to utilise the extensive training he undertook in preparation for Blade, and his swift and agile movements are magnetic. Latif isn’t invincible; he takes hits and gets hurt, and in those disorienting moments, the audience becomes Latif, seeing what he sees and feeling his injuries; brilliantly achieved by the lighting choices of cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi. The framing and camera movements, the colour grading and close-up shots are all a breathtaking reminder of the beauty of cinema, further fuelled by the intensity of the score by American rock band Son Lux. Both Tariq and Ali are Muslim, and whilst the film focuses on the Islamic faith, it also provides a richly layered insight into multi-faith interactions and how there is often a base level of respect.

Ali deftly depicts the internal battle of his character’s morality. Before his wife’s death, Latif believed his violent vocation to be in service of God, but the hypocrisy of his actions begins to deeply affect him now that the anchor his wife provided has been uprooted. His conviction in his religion is also tested by his anger towards God at the loss of his wife, and the resulting difficulty of fulfilling the parental role he was mostly absent from. The varying ages of the children mean that they require vastly different things from him. The baby Aziza requires sustenance, and some of the most heart-wrenching scenes involve Latif desperately running around trying to source breast milk and then the gratifying relief when he succeeds; masterfully portrayed by Ali. Ten-year-old Qadir is a typical young boy who is interested in video games whilst on the brink of puberty, and teenage Fatiha (Adia) is questioning her faith whilst trying to rationalise her mother’s death alongside a growing understanding of what her father does. Despite only making her acting debut a few years ago, Adia’s performance here is remarkably profound, and she capably holds her own against a more experienced Ali. Tariq’s dialogue in the exchanges between Latif and his children is refreshingly authentic and honest, and a stark reminder of the essence of the film.

With Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Tariq has established himself as a visionary filmmaker. The heart of the production offers a nuanced analysis of fatherhood and what it means through the lens of religion, conflict and the grace that is needed in the face of loss. Throughout, Latif is frequently reminded how he was never around or present in the lives of his kids, and so ultimately the film becomes a gritty and compelling journey of a father leaving behind his preconceived purpose and focusing on his true one: his children.

Sunny Morgan

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is released nationwide on 20^th November 2026.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival 2026 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother here: