TIFF: Ali and Tariq's post-Blade thriller impresses at Toronto festival
A review from the Toronto International Film Festival highlights "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother," starring Mahershala Ali and directed by Bassam Tariq, as a powerful character study that outshines Marvel's canceled Blade reboot. The film hits theaters in October.
At the Toronto International Film Festival, a critic covering five films singled out "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother" as the standout of the day — a hitman thriller starring Mahershala Ali and directed by Bassam Tariq. Both had previously been attached to Marvel's Blade reboot, a project that was ultimately scrapped, widely seen as one of the studio's biggest missteps in recent years.
Plot and reception
Ali plays Latif, a devout Muslim and devoted father who moonlights as a hitman operating under a strict code: only kill bad people, and never use a gun. When his wife dies, Latif is left to single-handedly raise three children, including a newborn, just as his violent past resurfaces to threaten the family. The reviewer describes the film as a compelling character study where action sequences are relatively sparse but hit harder as a result, blending somber moments with genuine humor. John Cho also draws praise for his performance as the film's antagonist, a charismatic but unhinged leader of a right-wing church group. The film is set for a theatrical release in October.
Other TIFF highlights
Among the other films reviewed were "In Alaska," a crime thriller about a teenager pursued by the FBI over pipeline damage; "The Face of Horror," a horror film adapting a classic Japanese ghost story into a 14th-century English setting; "Babies," a comedy starring Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen about a couple weighing whether to have children; and "Drifter," a drifting-racing drama led by Sung Kang that the critic found let down by a predictable underdog-sports formula despite strong driving sequences.
