Director Bassam Tariq and Mahershala Ali’s thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
premiered at TIFF 2026, reimagining their abandoned Marvel Blade project as a family drama centered on a Muslim hitman navigating grief and faith.
From Blade to Family Drama: The Film’s Origins
The film’s roots trace back to Tariq and Ali’s unrealized Marvel project, Blade, which was scrapped. This tension ultimately led to the duo’s pivot toward Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a project that allowed them to stitch very different worlds together
as Tariq put it in The Hollywood Reporter.
The film’s premise—centering on Latif, a devout Muslim contract killer grappling with his wife’s death—was inspired by Tariq’s personal experience as a new father. Not feeling like you’re enough as a provider
shaped the narrative, according to the director. Mahershala Ali, who had walked away from Blade in July, found a new creative outlet in the role. It offered up an opportunity to engage and commit to the type of difficult I want to commit to,
he said, highlighting the physical and emotional demands of the project.
A Gritty Exploration of Faith and Fatherhood
Latif’s journey is a collision of religious conviction and raw survival. The film opens with a visceral bathroom fight, a scene that underscores his dual role as a killer and a father. He carries diapers in his kill kit,
noted The Guardian, a detail that encapsulates the film’s central contradiction: the juxtaposition of violence and nurturing. This duality is further explored through Latif’s quest for breast milk for his infant daughter, a plot thread rooted in Tariq’s own struggle to care for his newborn while his wife was in the ICU.
The film’s religious themes are woven into its genre elements. The title, explained numerous times in voiceover as an Islamic hadith (a prophetic edict), emphasizes the centrality of maternal figures in Muslim tradition. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
is not just a motif but a lens through which the film examines faith, community, and moral ambiguity. It’s challenging in a very different way, but I’m getting through it,
Ali said of the role, reflecting the film’s balance of action and introspection.
Critical Reception and Thematic Depth
The film’s release on September 25 marks a pivotal moment for Tariq and Ali. Tariq, who previously worked on Mogul Mowgli and Bait, described the project as its own beautiful singular thing.
Meanwhile, Ali is set to star in the second season of HBO’s Task, where he will further explore action-oriented roles. I’ll just say that there is some physical work in that as well,
he teased, hinting at the physical demands of his upcoming projects.
For audiences, the film’s success hinges on its ability to balance its genre elements with its emotional core. As Tariq reflected on his Marvel experience, the film represents a shift toward storytelling. The question remains: will Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother redefine Tariq and Ali’s creative partnership, or will it be remembered as a missed opportunity? The answer may lie in how the film resonates with viewers in the coming months.
