‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’: Much Ado About Breastmilk

BY Mark Jackson TIMESeptember 26, 2026

Latif (Mahershala Ali, center holding baby) at prayer in his local mosque, in "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." (Amazon MGM Studios)

R | 1h 51m | Drama, Crime, Thriller | 2026

“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” has an interesting premise—Latif (Mahershala Ali) is a widowed Muslim hitman who tries to provide for his family but can’t outrun the professional troubles that dog him.

A father and his 3 kids in a living room in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother — (L–R) Fatiha (Adia), Latif (Mahershala Ali), and Qadir (Jahleel Kamara), in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” (Amazon MGM Studios)

After his latest hit, he returns home to discover he’s only got a day’s worth of his late wife’s breastmilk left in the freezer. Their baby has never tried formula, and when dad does try to bottle feed him, he can’t keep it down.

Latif visits his imam, Abdul Malik (Giancarlo Esposito), to inquire as to whether any of the mosque’s female faithful are nursing, while being continually nagged to do more hit jobs by his relentless employer, Mike (Laith Nakli).

Epoch Times Photo — Mahershala Ali stars as Latif in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” (Amazon MGM Studios)

Meanwhile, Mike’s porn-entrepreneur nephew Hatty (Abubakr Ali) has been targeted for extermination—by a man of the cloth. Hatty has enraged Pastor Hwan, a former U.S. Army veteran (John Cho, best known from 2004’s stoner-comedy “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”). As the assault-rifle-carrying holy man preaches nonstop to his cult of loyal acolytes, it’s their covenant to eradicate porn and human trafficking.

Your Mother?

The film’s title is in reference to an Islamic hadith (a recorded saying, action, or silent approval attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) in praise of the family matriarch. At first glance, “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” would appear to be an ode to Latif’s wife. However, it’s really more a showcase for the the insanely convoluted ways good intentions can become entwined with bad deeds, and the smorgasbord of choices that have to do with picking the difficult right over the easy wrong.

Latif’s faith is rigid and uncompromising, yet he kills people for a living. His imam is well aware of Latif’s skillset; he doesn’t feel it’s in line with what he teaches—but how’s Latif going to feed his family? Drive a truck? Work at Micky D’s?—easy wrong, hard right. Young Hatty runs a porn site that he markets as halal (“permissible” or “lawful” under Islamic law).

All of the above illustrates that there isn’t always an easy through-line from religious beliefs on the page to objective morality, and on a range of small to large scales. On the smaller side, Latif wants to break the fast with his children on Ramadan, unaware his daughter is surreptitiously snacking on chips and watching furry porn on her computer in her bedroom.

man practices martial arts and young boy swings on jungle gym in our Mother Your Mother Your Mother. — Latif (Mahershala Ali) practices martial arts while his son Qadir (Jahleel Kamara) swings, in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” (Amazon MGM Studios)

Performances

Mahershala Ali is superb as usual. John Cho’s pastor-villain shows how real-life evangelists can end up going ‘round the bend by doing whatever they need to do to achieve their vision of paradise. They don’t notice that the easy wrongs add up, ultimately turning their paradise upside down and into a ring of hell.

Asian man in white cowboy hat talks to black man in Muslim garb in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. — Pastor Hwan (John Cho, L) seeks understanding for his anti-porn crusade with Latif (Mahershala Ali), who is slaughtering Hwan’s flock of faithful, in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” (Amazon MGM Studios)

The effortlessly charismatic Adia delivers the film’s best performance as Latif’s eldest daughter, who’s sitting on a volcano of emotion but coping with it even more internally than her dad. Jahleel Kamara as her kid brother looks like a mini-me of Daniel Kaluuya, and would appear to headed for a similarly illustrious film career. Their ruthless banter really takes one back to sibling rivalry.

“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” is starkly violent and has many instances where children are endangered. At the heart of it is the juxtaposition and internal struggle of a killer whose devotion to Islam fuels him to be an outstanding father to his children. One sees parallels to devote Christian special forces warriors who are great dads, except for the fact that one path is legal and one is absolutely not.

Muslim man holds baby in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother — Latif (Mahershala Ali) and his formula-intolerant infant in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” (Amazon MGM Studios)

Sadly, while the film kicks off solidly, and features an excellent second act, by the third, it veers into such campy, over-the-top, Shakespearean heights of violence, that it completely pulls the prayer rug out from under itself. I left the theater imagining a new title: “Much Ado About Breastmilk.”

“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, and will release in theaters on Sept. 25th.

Promotional poster for "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." (Amazon MGM Studios) — Promotional poster for “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.” (Amazon MGM Studios)

‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’
Director: Bassam Tariq
Starring: Mahershala Ali, Giancarlo Esposito, John Cho
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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Mark Jackson

Film Critic

Mark Jackson is the senior film critic for The Epoch Times and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. Mark earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by classical theater conservatory training, and has 20 years' experience as a New York professional actor. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook "How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World," available on iTunes, Audible, and YouTube. Mark is featured in the book "How to Be a Film Critic in Five Easy Lessons" by Christopher K. Brooks. In addition to films, he enjoys Harley-Davidsons, rock-climbing, qigong, martial arts, and human rights activism.

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