Isabelle Huppert has a relentless and fearless attitude that is perfect for movie roles with perilous situations. In the French film Mama Weed there is heated conflict, but also lots of laughs and cliches. The film can be engrossing, at least in bits and pieces, and Huppert is the reason why. But Mama Weed can also be redundant, and that requires patience (which also happens to be her name in the film) on the viewer’s part.

Huppert plays Patience Portefeux, a French-Arabic translator in Paris. She finds herself in financial trouble and decides to do translation work for the police in a drug sting operation. Patience becomes the contact for drug dealers, but she knows more than she is telling the police and she parlays this into more income. She can’t keep this discreet operation going for long, though.

Where I found the most fun in Mama Weed is when Huppert dresses in a headdress and sunglasses for her discreet operations. The entertainment value is that she doesn’t get caught up in the dangerous situations, the drug dealers do, and she walks away with a lot of the money. The sting operation scenes in Mama Weed can be funny, and though it seemed predictable, there were also some twists. But I wouldn’t call the film suspenseful or intense. It is more like a comedy spy thriller, with a small amount of drama thrown in. It wasn’t exactly mesmerizing, but it was entertaining, had a few laughs, and is worth a watch.

Some may think Mama Weed is going to be like Paul Verhoeven’s Elle (2016), a film also starring Isabelle Huppert that I saw while an intern at the Cannes Film Festival. Huppert is known for her dark performances, so people may assume that Mama Weed will be dark like Elle, but it is not. In Mama she can be dark and serious at times, but the film is nowhere near as suspenseful, violent, or disturbing as Elle was.

Mama Weed is not memorable, but it’s fun to watch, and it’s Huppert’s acting and humor, not the plot or suspense, that are the reason. I believe it’s one of those films that will grow on some cinema enthusiasts (including myself) over time, maybe with a few more viewings. I give Mama Weed two and a half stars.

Most of Nicholas Cage’s movies have been appealing, and some have been bizarre, but whether the movie is good or bad Cage’s performance is always brilliant. Pig is one of the best films he has done in a while. The title of the film has a double meaning. One meaning defines the brilliant, clever, and vindictive personality that Cage performs in this engrossing thriller. Cage is relentless in Pig and his performance adds depth and meaning to the film.

Cage plays Rob, a man who lives alone in the Oregon wilderness. He works as a truffle hunter and lives with just his truffle pig, giving the other meaning for the title. Soon though, Rob’s solitude is violently disrupted as he is robbed and his pig is stolen. Rob loves that pig and he goes on a mission to get it back with his truffle business partner Amir, played by Alex Wolff. Amir ends up driving Rob to places from his past to help him get his pig back, and the film becomes a harrowing journey of discovery towards the many reasons why Rob’s pig was stolen from him.

At times Rob speaks to former colleagues about errors from his past that they have contributed to, and this adds to the puzzle of his missing pig. These scenes had me wondering who is more to blame, and who is more dangerous. As one conversation leads to another the resolution of the pig theft starts to come into focus. This makes Pig an inviting journey with many unexpected answers, and some disturbing discoveries. It is all done in such a quiet, surprising and spectacular way by director Michael Sarnoski in his directing debut.

The forests of Oregon and the incredible scenery make Pig invigorating as well. Rob knows the paths through the forest well, and the scenes where he is traveling through them are vibrant with faded cinematography, which had me feeling an in-depth experience with the outdoors.

I am giving Pig four stars. I loved the structure of this movie and it its unpredictability had me enthralled. Pigmay be one of the best films of 2021.

Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move has a vibe like the Oceans film series, though it does not have the humor that made Oceans so entertaining. It is a puzzler that centers around a crime mission gone awry. The film is a trail of misleading scenarios, making it hard to know whether to trust the antagonists or the protagonists after the failed mission. It has many intriguing elements of surprise.
 
No Sudden Moves is set in 1950s Detroit. The film focuses on gangster Curt Goynes, who is played by Don Cheadle. Curt needs money to get out of town and he is hired by Doug Jones, played by Brendan Fraser, to blackmail a family. Goynes has two other gangsters, Ronald and Charley, join him in the plot. Ronald is played by Benicio Del Toro, and Charley is played by Kieran Culkin.

As part of their scheme the group robs a businessman named Matt, played by David Harbour, to retrieve a document that has critical information. The mission goes sideways and fails badly, leading to a murder. The detective on the case is Joe Finney, and he is played by Jon Hamm. Finney tries to figure out who is truly at fault with the deadly attack.

The entertainment value in No Sudden Move comes with the shifting trust between the authorities and the criminals. Curt tries to muddy up the story to hide his involvement. Each criminal knows someone on the inside or does favors for someone else to keep their cover from being blown. No Sudden Move rolls out the misconceptions slowly and eventually we get to see who the bigger bad guy in the failed mob attack is.
 
Soderbergh’s directing approach is fascinating. As the film evolves more criminal masterminds and schemes from the past and present come around, and the bad deeds are revealed. But the deeds have the criminal masterminds making bank. No Sudden Move had me thinking I trust one character over another, but then later that trust would be altered by a new discovery about a character. It had me wondering whose side I should be on.
 
The performances by Cheadle, Toro, and Culkin are just heart-pounding. Toro and Culkin seem to have more of an evil side than Cheadle, but Cheadle’s role in the gang adds an important element. Toro and Culkin are criminals who want to scare their victims, whereas Cheadle just wants to get into their mission and get out. The personality clashing between the three criminals is stellar. The blame game between them starts from the very beginning.
 
No Sudden Move is thrilling. Not amazing, but it had my attention. It takes its time to get to the main point, but overall, it is a savvy crime-thriller. I would say I had mixed feelings before watching the film, but I found myself impressed. I give No Sudden Move three stars.