The Mastermind (dir. Kelly Reichardt)

by Jack Martin | Oct 26, 2025

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 110 mins

UK Distributor: Mubi

UK Release Date: 24 October 2025

WHO’S IN THE MASTERMIND?

Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, Hope Davis, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Bill Camp, Sterling Thompson, Jasper Thompson, Eli Gelb, Cole Doman, Javion Allen, Matthew Maher, Rhenzy Feliz, D.J. Stroud

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Kelly Reichardt (director, writer, editor), Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino and Anish Savjani (producers), Rob Mazurek (composer), Christopher Blauvelt (cinematographer)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A suburban family man (O’Connor) lives a double life as an art thief…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE MASTERMIND?

Of the previous Kelly Reichardt movies that her latest, The Mastermind, pairs up best with, it is by far her 2013 feature Night Moves. Aside from the fact that both films involve lead characters committing dangerous criminal acts that they end up paying for in one way or another, they are similarly connected by their protagonists’ ultimately fruitless desire to make some kind of impact on the world, as a means of giving purpose to their current unfulfilling ones.

Although, unlike with Night Moves, Reichardt allows herself some extra room to play around a little bit more with genre, specifically the classic heist thriller where lovable rogues could easily pull off large-scale thefts with a mere brush of their smooth charisma. To a point, The Mastermind fits nicely within that mould, until it reaches a point where it becomes all too apparent that even a skilled filmmaker like Reichardt can’t quite figure out where to ultimately lead things.

Set in the early 70s, the film is about J.B. Mooney (Josh O’Connor), an unemployed family man who is left to parade about the house while his wife Terri (Alana Haim) acts as the sole breadwinner. Secretly, though, he plots to steal a collection of Arthur Dove paintings from the local art museum and carefully arranges a small group to commit the theft which, at first, goes as smoothly as J.B. perhaps had it in his head. Inevitably, though, the signs point to J.B. being the mastermind of the whole operation, which prompts him to go on the run across the country and find a way to lay low until things die down.

Those familiar with Reichardt’s oeuvre by now will recognise her tendency to introduce compelling plots but leave them at a place that is decisively unsatisfactory compared to more conventional narratives, and The Mastermind is no different, for better or worse. Here, the filmmaker applies her usual gentle, lived-in approach to make this story feel naturalistic and grounded despite some of the heightened plot points, which initially makes certain scenes feel a bit more unique in how they present certain information about characters and their backstories. This is particularly true about the scenes leading up to the heist itself, where we get enough of an idea about what is driving J.B. to commit such an act without divulging more than we need to know, as the audience picks up on subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle clues about his sense of masculine inferiority due to being a jobless stay-at-home dad which, given the time period, isn’t quite as commonplace as it may be today.

Once the heist takes place, The Mastermind at first seems to have an idea of what direction it’s eager to take its flawed anti-hero down, with Reichardt paying close attention to how he covers his tracks as in an extended scene of him hiding the stolen paintings in a secluded barn. But then, once the time comes for him to go on the lam, the film starts to meander heavily and never really picks up the same pace again, as the director slows things down to a point where it almost becomes an endurance test for the viewer. Scenes of quiet contemplation as O’Connor’s J.B. briefly hides out with friends before moving onto a quiet life in the city of Cincinnati tend to feel repetitive and run the risk of becoming too dull to care any further about what happens next to this character, before ultimately concluding on a rather sudden note that leaves plenty of loose threads left to dangle without a total sense of closure.

It makes the film a little frustrating to watch, because it starts off fairly strong with some playful stabs at the heist movie formula, much of it set to a smoothly composed jazz score courtesy of Rob Mazurek, only to wander aimlessly as it tries to show the rather miniscule consequences of our protagonist’s actions. O’Connor is certainly bringing some understated charm to the role, but even he struggles to convey the full extent of this character that Reichardt, like most other things in this movie, keeps a little too close to the chest in ways that undermine the overall investment.

As for how it stacks next to Night Moves, that movie probably has more of a rounded narrative with arcs that are followed through with to better results, and Reichardt seemed a bit more certain as to where she ultimately wanted to take her characters on that journey. Conversely, while The Mastermind has its moments, it can’t compete with the filmmaker’s more satisfying outings.

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Mastermind is an affable if frustrating heist thriller by filmmaker Kelly Reichardt that starts off strong but ultimately succumbs to a meandering pace that never makes it better than just “okay”.