The Mastermind
The second feature in Josh O’Connor’s double bill at this year’s Cannes competition is Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind. At first glance, its depiction of a 1970s art heist seems like something of a departure for the Floridian auteur, whose films are typically characterised by a love of naturalistic slices of life and slow-burn pacing.
James Blaine Mooney – known to everyone as JB – is a regular at his local museum. He visits with his family, who occasionally become unwitting mules as he tests the limits of the gallery’s security measures. Confident he has the place figured out, JB recruits fellow drifters to help him steal a roomful of paintings. Only after the fact does the supposed mastermind realise he may not have thought through all the details a successful robbery requires.
Despite Reichardt drawing on more conventional plot arcs than in her previous work, The Mastermind still leans more toward arthouse cinema than the heist classics of the era in which it’s set – whether The Thomas Crown Affair or How to Steal a Million. A near-constant score of jazzy drumbeats is intended to raise the tempo and signal an undercurrent of danger, even as the visuals remain unhurried. Yet because the pressure-filled circumstances merely provide a framework for a fragmentary character study, the film is never quite as engaging or revelatory as it easily had the potential to be. But Reichardt’s focus lies elsewhere, as she paints JB as a man disoriented amid his country’s collective identity crisis.
A number of comparisons have been drawn to O’Connor’s 2023 Cannes stint La Chimera, where he also plays a dishevelled, borderline pathetic character entangled in dubious art dealings. In The Mastermind, however, his performance is even more internalised, with only the subtlest flickers of mischievous humour filtering through. The go-to face for any director recreating the 1970s, Alana Haim plays JB’s wife in similarly austere fashion. Reichardt mainstay John Magaro appears all too briefly, but brings a soothing tenderness to his scenes, as his character is the only one to show JB genuine affection.
In its exploration of an emotionally unmoored individual, The Mastermind marks an impactful new chapter in Reichardt’s cinema. It will resonate with her fans and likely draw in new ones – though anyone misled by the title and expecting adrenaline-packed excitement would do well to temper their expectations.
Selina Sondermann
The Mastermind does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
Watch the trailer for The Mastermind here:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
RSS