Movie review
November 7, 2025 · 104 min
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
After All is a 2025 family drama about a woman who returns to rural Texas to care for her mother after a stroke and reconnect with her mixed-race teenage daughter. The three generations of women confront buried family secrets and trauma from an abusive, racist, schizophrenic grandfather, working toward forgiveness, healing, and family bonds. The story centers on personal grief, caregiving, and generational pain, with some coverage noting an exploration of race alongside the main family themes.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for After All.
Woke representation / casting
The film casts Kiara Muhammad as the mixed-race teenage granddaughter in an interracial family story that includes a racist grandfather in the trauma backstory. This makes the diversity plot-relevant and justified by character history rather than random signaling, though the prominent role and some reviews describing it as part of a “touching exploration of race” make the identity element audience-visible.
Woke political dialogue
No evidence of explicit political, activist, or social-justice dialogue in the story or marketing. Focus stays on personal family emotions and healing.
Identity-driven story themes
The core narrative deals with generational trauma from domestic abuse and mental illness, caregiving, and forgiveness. Race appears as part of the family dynamics and grief exploration across generations in some reviews (racist grandfather, mixed-race daughter), adding an identity layer, though it is not the dominant focus and lacks heavy modern activist framing.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The father is shown as schizophrenic, racist, and emotionally abusive, driving the family trauma. Some reviewers note the women’s healing improves with male absence from the household. This includes negative portrayals of toxic and racist masculinity in a family context, but it is presented through personal character flaws and mental illness rather than broad systemic critiques of patriarchy, whiteness, or Western institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. This is an original story with no established characters or source material altered for ideological reasons.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No anti-woke or right-leaning complaints exist accusing the film of promoting identity politics, DEI, or activist messaging. Limited reaction centers on dramatic family storytelling.
Creator track record context
Director Kerstin Karlhuber previously directed a drama focused on a young man’s post-conversion therapy experiences and gay identity reconciliation; she advocates for animal rescue. Writer Jack Bryant collaborated on that project. Producer Erika Christensen has advocated for reproductive rights and abortion access. Other producers show no such patterns. The current film’s content is milder than some prior team work.
Production
