Film Review: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is a ferocious action-thriller rooted in Islamic scripture, family bonds, and a desperate crisis of faith. Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali is in top form as a devout muslim hitman fights to save his beloved children from past loyalties and an equally religious, deadly antagonist. Writer/director Bassam Tariq, who was initially hired to reboot the MCU’s Blade with Ali before that film fell apart, delivers a searing cinematic experience rarely seen on screen. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother isn’t flawless, and has legitimate narrative issues, but is guaranteed to be a different experience for most viewers.
We first see Latif (Ali) dispatching righteous justice to a white supremacist skinhead in a dirty bathroom. Their battle is bloody and ugly as we learn from the start that Latif’s extremely capable. The aftermath delivers tragic news in a phone call from his teenage daughter Fatiha (Adia). Her mother Kadisha has died. Latif is now left to take care of her, his 10-year-old son Qadir (Jahleel Kamara), and infant daughter Aziza. A despondent Latif tries to keep a brave countenance as his first problem as a single father emerges.
They’ve run out of Kadisha’s breastmilk. Aziza cannot stomach formula and vomits when Latif tries to feed her. The family drives to the local mosque where the sheik, Abdul Malik (Giancarlo Esposito), has been their stalwart supporter. He bitterly chastises Latif when a huge second problem begins to take shape. Latif has been ignoring phone calls from Mike Mahmoudi (Laith Nakli), a wealthy Arab security contractor who’s been hiring Latif to eliminate problems to the local muslim community. He now wants Latif to kill a man hunting his problematic nephew Hatty (Abubakr Ali), who runs a perverted muslim porn site from his family’s luxurious mansion and has become the target of a former soldier turned radical Christian preacher. Hwan Yoon (John Cho) has amassed an army of followers and vows to purge purveyors of filth like Hatty from existence by God’s decree.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother hits like a freight train from the opening frame. Tariq accompanies the violence with a hadith, an account of the Prophet Muhammad, answering an important life question. Latif, a convert and also a veteran, has trained his children to respect the Prophet’s teachings and live according to Islamic tradition. These tenets are questioned by Fatiha as she struggles with her mother’s death, innate sexual desires, which are very interesting and unexpected, and what her father actually does for a living. These scenes are richly explored and a breath of fresh air in their honest depictions. Latif is stern with Fatiha but never hits or abuses her in any way. He’s disappointed in her actions, but keenly understands she’s young and also trying to cope. This is the best part of the film and may earn Oscar nominations for both actors.
The lurid and disgusting world of Hatty, also brilliantly portrayed by Nakli, is shown unvarnished. Tariq takes great care to depict the complete antithesis of devout Islam. Hatty has turned his back on a muslim upbringing, sees men like Latif as hypocrites, and tries in vain to be something he’s clearly not, a tough guy. The contentious relationship between Latif and Hatty drives the narrative almost as much as the disconnect with his daughter. This is something that Tariq explains in detail to differentiate Latif from what most westerners see as jihadism. That point of view, kill everyone who doesn’t believe in your religious doctrine, is actually espoused by Hwan Yoon on his brutal Christian crusade against perceived infidels. There’s irony in Latif trying to protect a wayward muslim when Hatty should be someone he hates the most. Tarig gets high marks for this ideological contrast.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother loses cohesion with Yoon’s crazy characterizations and how this insane violence is completely ignored by law enforcement, in Texas of all places. Cho is a phenomenal actor, but Yoon’s gold teeth with crucifixes, cowboy hat, red leather outfits, and armed militia with automatic rifles tramples on willing suspension of disbelief. The story takes place in Houston, and has murder and gun battles taking place everywhere. You never see a cop anywhere in this film. In fact, there are no white caucasian characters in the ensemble at all. I won’t get into the film’s racial dynamics except to point out the utter lack of a police presence. A black muslim hitman and a Korean militant waging open warfare in Texas without a peep from the cops is just a bridge too far to accept.
That said, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is enthralling and a must-see. There isn’t a second of this film where your eyeballs aren’t glued to the screen. It’s a visceral experience that’s superbly acted across the board. And the climax, whew, that’s something that will have viewers discussing for hours and days afterward. It’s a damn shame that Kevin Feige and Marvel studios couldn’t get it together and make the Blade film because Ali and Tariq are a dynamite combination.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Motheris a production of Orion Pictures and Two & Two Pictures. It will be released theatrically on September 25th from Amazon MGM Studios.