Best Of: Mahershala Ali / Writer Yiyun Li

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In his new film, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother , Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali plays a devout Muslim father and hit man whose life is upended when he suddenly has to care for his children on his own. The role brings together a lot of what has shaped Ali as an actor, including an attraction to characters who live in morally complicated places. “That’s why I think someone like myself signs up to do a part like this,” he tells Tonya Mosley. “Because it isn’t simple. It isn’t easy. It’s a little nasty. It’s a little gray. But it just makes for great drama.” Also, we hear from writer Yiyun Li. She won a Pulitzer for her memoir about the suicides of her two teenage sons. In her new…