THE TEXAS PREMIERE OF “YOUR MOTHER, YOUR MOTHER, YOUR MOTHER” AT THE HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS FESTIVAL
Filling Shoes Three Times His Size with Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali and Houston’s Own Bassam Tariq
october 2, 2026 - BY SARAH ONTIVEROS
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother (2026) by Bassam Tariq
The opening lines of Tariq’s long-awaited film with Ali feature a reading of an Islamic hadith, it says,
“A man came to a prophet and asked, ‘who deserves the best of me?’” we hear it uttered by a young woman, to which a young boy questions, “what’d he say?”
Her response: “Your mother.”
We hear the line, “Your Mother” repeated twice more as the hadith emphasizes the importance of the matriarch in the eyes of God. We are simultaneously thrust into a bloody action scene with Ali, feeling the strikes and blows rattle the screen and set the tone for the film about to unveil itself.
Houston Cinema Arts Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, photo by Sarah Ontiveros
Houston Cinema Arts Festival kicked off their 2026 run last night with the Texas premiere of Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother. We had the privilege of sitting front row on this journey through grief, religious struggle, and fatherhood. We follow Latif (Ali), a Muslim and deadly assassin, following his wife’s death, struggling to maintain his beliefs and her rapidly depleting breast milk for their infant daughter. It’s not so much an action film as it is a film about a father’s wavering faith, with action and comedy threaded throughout.
For a non-Muslim, the invitation to enter this world with Latif and his three children is at once sincere and warm but also unapologetic in what it leaves to the audience to piece together about the Islamic culture. The immersion is swift but not jarring and at times, truly universal, because who hasn’t caught their teenaged daughter watching suggestive “furry” videos on their laptop? There are a number of humorous moments like this, where we feel permitted to relate to Latif, not as a honed assassin, but as a widowed father, struggling with his beliefs while trying to navigate this new and barren landscape.
HCAF Lead Programmer Michael Robinson (left) and writer & director Bassam Tariq (right). Photo by Sarah Ontiveros
Tariq, in the Q&A that followed the film, mentioned the word samurai. There's even a comedic moment, mid-action sequence, where an assailant asks if Latif is a samurai (because of his use of knives and swords in place of guns). It’s a motif that sticks when you think about the quiet discipline attributed to Japanese samurai, how their code of ethics rarely falters, and how following these codes allows them some sense of righteousness in their deeds. Latif shares this conviction and believes his work, up until this point, is justified, not just in his eyes, but in his wife’s – who he holds above all else. It’s in the killings for this “one last job” that we understand the true struggle, and it isn’t with the Christian zealot brilliantly played by John Cho with a diamond grill, but with himself. Tariq will later affirm this when he states, “[Latif] has to kill all these versions of himself to be a father,” unearthing who he is under the assassin’s guise.
What’s interesting about the film’s title is that it’s incomplete. We won’t spoil it for those who are unfamiliar with the hadith, but in the same way that his wife’s depleting milk stores is symbolic of her loss and his grief, the unfinished line symbolizes the discovery of who Latif is, not to just us as an audience, but to the angered daughter he’s kept sheltered from his true identity. When the moment finally culminates and we are struck with the realization of the hadith’s final message, alongside his son and daughter – oh what a privilege it was to bear witness to such miraculous rekindling.
Mahershala Ali (Latif) in Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother (2026) by Bassam Tariq. Orion & Amazon MGM Studios.
As the lights came up and audience members dashed away tears, Michael Robinson, HCAF’s newest lead programmer, and director Bassam Tariq took to the stage to discuss the film’s origins and to dote on the independent film landscape of Houston, Texas, where the film was shot (and where Tariq is from). From diamond grills on a Christian Korean man in a cowboy hat to the mention of a Kroger on Hillcroft, and of course to the booth in Aga’s Indian restaurant, this film is uniquely Houston. It profoundly showcases the diversity that’s thrived in the Texas city for generations and speaks to its audiences about one of the many religions that flourishes beneath, and in spite of, the cultural climate that threatens to divide them all. In the final act of the film, we see two men at opposing ends of their beliefs walk out of the same house together, sharing one aligned thought, and it’s the thought that there is power in prayer – and everyone has someone praying for them, even an assassin, and especially a father.
Day one of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival is done, ten more days to go. You can find more information on screenings and workshops as well as the festival schedule at: cinemasociety.org.
