The Mastermind
Josh O’Connor plays an imperfect thief in Kelly Reichardt’s unsatisfactory heist drama.
Picture this: Josh O’Connor
Image courtesy of Mubi.
There is no question but that the American writer/director Kelly Reichardt is one of the great talents who has always followed her own path as an independent filmmaker. That does not mean that I have admired every work of hers since acclaiming her second feature Old Joy made in 2006 (in particular I did not share the general enthusiasm for Meek’s Cutoff (2010) and, admirable as much of it was, I thought that those who described her 2019 film First Cow as a masterpiece were wrong). On the other hand, I certainly regarded Wendy and Lucy (2008) and Certain Women (2016) as memorable works and felt that the underrated Night Moves (2013) was almost as good. Since Reichardt's 2022 feature Showing Up received such a limited release in the UK that I missed it, I was all the more eager to catch her very latest work but, both sadly and unexpectedly, The Mastermind strikes me as a misfire.
Given the title itself and the fact that this film is all about a heist and its consequences, it would certainly be possible for some people to prove unreceptive to it because what unfolds is so contrary to the character of most heist movies. However, its novelty will not surprise anyone familiar with Reichardt’s style which has always tended to the minimalistic and involved a slow pace, characteristics that are decidedly at odds with what is expected of stories of this kind. Consequently, even though Reichardt’s tale does follow the classic format of, say, the great Rififi (1955) by portraying the planning of a robbery, its execution and then its aftermath, I approached The Mastermind expecting something inherently different and was certainly not taken aback to discover that the title is ironic.
The central figure here is a married man in Massachusetts named James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor). He lives there with his wife, Terri (Alana Haim), and their two young sons Tommy and Carl (Jasper and Sterling Thompson). The family often visit their local art museum but the film's opening scene makes it apparent that James is focused on something other than simply looking at the paintings on display. We observe him stealing a small figurine and thus putting one over on the sleepy guard. We gather that he is testing just how much is possible due to the security being so lax and we soon eavesdrop on James discussing with two friends (Eli Gelb and Cole Doman) his proposed theft from the museum of four small abstract paintings by Arthur Dove. James would be the driver involved but it would be the others suitably masked who would enter the museum and seize the paintings. Being the man who planned it, James could be considered the mastermind but he is not very clever as becomes all too apparent both on the day and thereafter. He is relying on people who are not actually reliable, one friend backs out and the younger man brought in as a substitute (Javion Allen) raises the stakes by having a gun. Furthermore, James has failed to plan ahead for disposing of the stolen artwork after stashing it and he has not foreseen that the youth will be caught and then tell all, his statement bringing the police to James’s home.
The Mastermind runs for 110 minutes and in effect the first half is devoted to the events described above while what follows portrays James's actions as he realises that he is now a wanted man. He opts to abandon his family and travels to Cincinnati ultimately aiming to cross the border into Canada. But what is striking about all this is that the slow pace results in a piece totally lacking in any of the tension that such a story would normally possess. The film does feature a music score by Rob Mazurek which is rooted in jazz, often features drumming and has Mazurek himself on trumpet but, rather than this adding to the drama, it only makes one feel that the film is relying unduly on this music in the vain hope that it will somehow capture the excitement that is lacking.
With Reichardt as the writer one would expect her to create characters so real and involving that the film’s interest would rest in that. However, making James such a central figure (the others tend to be underdeveloped) emphasises the fact that as presented here he is difficult to really understand or to care about. The plotting provides the focus from the outset and the characterisation of James himself is largely limited to hints. He is unemployed and it is his wife who works while it is also clear that his father, a judge (Bill Camp), readily regards James as somebody who has achieved much less than he should have done. When Terri realises that James is under suspicion by the police, her reactions hardly suggest that of a truly devoted wife and we have seen how James relies on getting money out of his indulgent mother (Hope Davis) (it is her cash supposedly needed to help a work project that he uses to pay those assisting him in the robbery).
The year is 1972 and youngsters are protesting the Vietnam war but, if James is dissatisfied enough to want to break out and rebel, such feelings are not channelled into these social and political issues. Had they done so we might sympathise with him, but we never sense any valid drive behind his actions and the film in consequence has no real pulse to it. Even though it is often expected that audiences viewing a heist film will hope that the criminals portrayed will get away with it, here one has no sympathy with James at all. This applies no less in the film’s second half which, most unusually in such a context, now proceeds to portray James in ways which positively invite us to withdraw any sympathy for him that we might have felt. But this development is one which would only be dramatically telling had we felt for him earlier.
As it happens (and probably not by chance) all the Reichardt films that I like best involve us intimately with characters about whom we care. But there is hardly anything of that here. I put that down to the writing since the actors are in no way to blame. O'Connor is fully devoted to his central role and the supporting players – not least Haim, Davis and John Magaro playing an old friend of James – are believable and well in character. In Night Moves what some saw as an inept thriller became for me a character study of tragic dimensions, but here Reichardt fails to turn a heist movie into something equally involving in a human way. The period is certainly well caught and there are from time-to-time humorous touches involved such as the pantyhose used to mask the robbers and the presence of a pig in the background when James seeks to hide the stolen paintings in a barn. However, these comic aspects are never sufficient to become a winning feature in their own right. I can only hope that after this misstep Reichardt will return to form, but I can at least acknowledge that the closing scene of The Mastermind is very well judged indeed.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, Hope Davis, Eli Gelb, Bill Camp, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Jasper Thompson, Sterling Thompson, Javion Allen, Richard Hagerman, Juan Carlos Hernández, Cole Doman.
Dir Kelly Reichardt, Pro Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino and Anish Savjani, Screenplay Kelly Reichardt, Ph Christopher Blauvelt, Pro Des Anthony Gasparro, Ed Kelly Reichardt, Music Rob Mazurek, Costumes Amy Roth.
Film Science/Mubi-Mubi.
110 mins. USA/UK 2025. US Rel: 17 October 2025. UK Rel: 24 October 2025. Cert. 12A.
