Mother Future Self [Tribeca Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

Few things are as awkward as running into somebody from your past who you had a bad last encounter with. That idea propels Tori Lancaster’s Mother Future Self, a quirky dramedy that screened in the U.S. Narrative Competition section of 2026’s Tribeca Festival. This will be a divisive movie. Some viewers will respond strongly to storytelling style, which requires you to decipher a lot of things that are felt but left unsaid, while others will be scratching their heads, wondering what is going on.

Sofi (Imani Jade Powers) and Jordan (Betsey Brown) are former friends who had some kind of falling out. They are unexpectedly reunited at an experimental dance camp where participants are put through various oddball movement exercises. The women initially try to be courteous, but over time, old tensions bubble up and Sofi starts engaging in passive-aggressive behaviors.

Direct interactions between the women are the best part of Mother Future Self. There’s real psychology going on here. You have to interpret the body language of the characters to figure out what’s happening between them. Similarly, you need to read between the lines of what they say. Powers and Brown do a good job of suggesting feelings that are being suppressed.

In a bold choice, Lancaster chooses to spend a great deal of time – almost half the film - showing the former friends and other participants taking part in the movement class. It’s run by real-life instructor K.J. Holmes and is based on her own methods. This is not exactly compelling from a dramatic point of view if you aren’t inherently into New Agey stuff. If you are, you may enjoy seeing how these bizarre exercises spur Sofi and Jordan.

I’m personally not into New Agey stuff, so I grew restless multiple times throughout the movie. However, I do respect what the filmmaker is trying to do here. Mother Future Self is unconventional and, like the dance camp itself, heavily experimental. Anyone who cares about cinema should be glad there are still risktakers out there.

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