TIFF 2026 Review: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother – “Mahershala Ali remains a powerhouse”

A contract killer decides to devote his time looking after his three children but his long-time employer is not in agreement with the idea.

A brutal fight takes place in a bathroom, which leads to a murder.  It turns out to be a contracted hit, with the hired killer being Latif, a recent widower trying to manage life as a single father responsible for his three children, with one being a baby who can only properly digest breast milk.  The ability to retire is made impossible by his employer, as a radical evangelist going after his porn-producing nephew needs to be eliminated permanently.  However, the job will not be easy as the target is more gangster than saviour.

Flashbacks of the time that Latif spent with his wife emphasizes that she may be dead but her presence remains.  The colour palette is garish which makes for a more heightened reality.  As for fights, think of them as Quentin Tarantino via Jason Bourne, as they are spectacular but also grounded by the brutality, as every blow feels painful.  The cinematography is dynamic as it follows the action and rarely remains static.  There are quieter moments as the protagonist emotionally struggles to find his own place in the world.  The violence is overdone but does leave one wondering what would have happened if filmmaker Bassam Tariq and Mahershala Ali had gotten to make their version of Blade.

The witty dialogue at times is hard to hear which is hard to determine as to whether this was intentional or an oversight.  Humour comes out of the situations that the characters find themselves in which gives it quite a powerful punch.  John Cho chews up the scenery as a religious man with his own private militia, Laith Nakli is the embodiment of menace as the Muslim mobster, and Abubakr Ali is as clueless as his badly dyed hair which provides some comic relief.  Mahershala Ali remains a powerhouse in conveying a wide range of emotions and Tiffany Boone and Jahleel Kamara play believable siblings and their exasperation feels believable when interacting with Mahershala Ali.

The 51st Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10-20, 2026, and for more information visit tiff.net.   

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.