Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother is an action drama that follows Latif, a devoutly religious hitman who embarks on a desperate journey across Houston, Texas, to provide for and protect his children after the death of his wife.
At the center of the film is the incredible and incomparable Mahershala Ali as Latif, a man seemingly built on contradictions. He is a father determined to protect his children, a man deeply rooted in his faith, and, at the same time, someone whose livelihood depends on violence as a hitman. His competing identities make Latif widely fascinating to follow on his journey because the film digs deeper than the simple question of is he a good or bad man. The film instead, forces us to sit with the much more and question how someone reconciles who they believe themselves to be with the “crimes” they’ve actually committed.
Ali is exactly the kind of actor you want at the center of that conflict. He has always been particularly excellent at communicating what a character isn’t saying through face, physical expression and more, and here, so much of Latif’s grief, desperation and internal struggle exists beneath the surface. Sometimes Ali’s face is on the screen and without saying anything he gives us the sense that there is an entire conversation happening inside Latif’s mind that we’re only being allowed to hear pieces of.
What makes Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother especially interesting, however, is the way it uses the framework of an action film to explore the age old question of faith.
John Cho delivers one of the film’s most surprising performances, playing a character unlike anything we’ve seen from him before. Cho’s character Kwan is evil but menacing, but there’s just enough charm underneath it all to make him incredibly compelling to watch.
The ending is what seals the deal for me on where the film ultimately takes his character and his relationship with faith. Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother spends so much time examining Latif’s devotion and the contradictions between his beliefs and his actions, but by the end, we also see Cho’s character’s own interpretation of faith. The two men may operate from very different places, but both find ways to understand their choices through what they believe.
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother is a compelling action drama elevated by two performances that are impossible to overlook. Mahershala Ali once again shows why he remains one of the most captivating actors of his time, while John Cho gets the opportunity to show audiences a darker side of himself. In light of the violence, grief and chaos on the screen, the film never loses sight of the family at the center of it all.
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother is in theaters September 25th.
