Mahershala Ali’s collaboration with writer-director Bassam Tariq has finally made it out of production limbo — and though it’s not the Blade reboot they were initially set to do with Marvel, you don’t find yourself yearning for that while watching Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. The film is much headier, spiritual, and morally nuanced than a Marvel film could ever be permitted to be, following the plight of Latif (Ali), a hitman who finds himself questioning his Muslim faith after the passing of his wife.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is like a lot of thrillers in that it doesn’t compromise its momentum, but the paths it takes to get to its final showdown are delightfully subversive. Latif spends more time searching for breast milk for his infant daughter, Zizi, than taking on the next job offered up by his handler, Mike (Laith Nakli). As if by some cruel twist of fate, the quest he desperately needs to complete is inextricable from the one he’s running from. In finding a woman who can nurse Zizi, Latif comes face-to-face with his target, a gun-zealous mega-church pastor known as Father Hwan (John Cho).
