{"id":11707,"date":"2021-07-17T17:39:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T17:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/?p=11707"},"modified":"2021-07-18T22:12:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T22:12:52","slug":"mama-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/mama-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Mama Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Isabelle Huppert is subtle and smart in this clever French crime caper about a working woman who sees an opportunity and takes advantage of it. The story centers on her heist of a huge cache of hashish to get money to help someone else as well as herself. This film keeps you on the edge of your seat with a series of situations wondering if she\u2019ll get caught. Huppert plays an interpreter for a Paris Police detective that she\u2019s also dating while she’s stashing hash. It\u2019s a serious detective story laced with light comedy. You can almost see the wheels turning in her head as she strategizes her next moves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Huppert is an award winning French actress who was nominated for an Academy award for Best Actress in Elle<\/i> in 2016. She is known for serious dramatic roles that have to do with morality and this film is no exception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Writer\/ Director Jean-Paul Salom\u00e9, based the film on the novel, \u201cThe Godmother,\u201d (La Daronne<\/em>) by Hannelore Cayre who co-wrote the script. It was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay for a C\u00e9sar Award (the French Oscar).\u00a0 <\/span>Huppert plays Patience Portefeux. She is a French-Arabic interpreter for the Paris Police narcotics unit translating the communications between the criminals involved in the biggest drug deals in the city. Her boss, Philippe (Hippolyte Girardot) is also her boyfriend who is obviously in love with her, wanting a more serious relationship.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11714″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11711″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11713″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Patience has too may other responsibilities on her plate. She\u2019s behind in the rent on her own apartment and months in arrears paying for the care of her ailing, and demanding mother, (Liliane Rov\u00e8re), in a home for the elderly. She has become friends and is grateful for the extra care her mother\u2019s gets from her nurse, Kadidja (Farida Ouchani) in the home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When she hears Kadidja\u2019s voice talking Arabic to her son in a wiretaps\u2019s translating regarding a big drug deal, she decides to get involved. At first, it\u2019s just to protect her friend\u2019s son, but then she devises a plan to get possession of the huge stash of hash for two reasons. One, she can protect the young man, and two, she knows enough about drug deals to move the drugs to get the money she needs for herself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Huppert is slight and small, and seeing her move huge, heavy, wrapped blocks of Hash to store them is very amusing. The actress got plenty of exercise making this film. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It gets even more complicated when her Boss\/Boyfriend helps her adopt a retired drug sniffing dog presumably to keep her company. Patience really needs the dog to help in her criminal enterprise. That presents some awkward but funny situations. She devises a disguise, with a head scarf, long dress and big sunglasses, taking on the demeanor of an exotic Middle Eastern businesswoman, dragging around huge bags stuffed with drugs or cash. The meetings with her dim-witted accomplices to transfer both become a nightmare with all kinds of interference. Plus, she\u2019s trying not to let anyone at the precinct know what she\u2019s up to. It\u2019s a cat and mouse, dog and detective game which director Jean-Paul Salom\u00e9 choreographs and edits well to make it work.<\/p>\n

In addition, there are some amusing scenes with Patience\u2019s Chinese landlady, also very smart, who picks up on what Patience is up to. Her daughter\u2019s wedding scene provides a messy turn and some unexpected laughs.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11715″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11712″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11716″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Huppert is a fine actress to begin with and is fun to watch. She appears to enjoy taking on this unexpected role for herself. As Patience, she rarely shows any emotion, mostly staying calm with little facial expression, but just enough to show that she\u2019s thinking at all times how to get out of each awkward situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We enjoyed seeing the US premiere of this film at the Music Box Theater in Chicago. Even though it has subtitles, they are easy to read, especially on the big screen. And watching Huppert work her low-key magic gives you an appreciation for her artistry. This film is one fun legal high.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Music Box Films \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>1 hour and 45 minutes\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In select theaters<\/i><\/b>[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cxRBU_9Cgj8″ el_width=”80″ align=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Isabelle Huppert is subtle and smart in this clever French crime caper about a working woman who sees an opportunity and takes advantage of it. The story centers on her heist of a huge cache of hashish to get money to help someone else as well as herself. This film keeps you on the edge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11707"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11725,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11707\/revisions\/11725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}