October 25, 2025
FILM: THE MASTERMIND
DIRECTED BY: KELLY REICHARDT
STARRING: JOSH O’CONNOR, ALANA HAIM, HOPE DAVIS
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
My track record for appreciating writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s work is a bit spotty. I loved two of her more recent films, Showing Up and First Cow, but I was not a fan of her earlier arthouse hits such as Wendy and Lucy and Meek’s Cutoff. Sad to say, I was pretty disappointed with where she takes her latest, The Mastermind. Josh O’Connor plays art thief James Mooney in 1970, a path he chose apparently after having failed as an architect. Reichardt doesn’t offer a lot of reasons why James has taken this route although he does have a wife, played by Alana Haim, and two young sons to provide for. In the very first scene, one of the boys is talking incessantly in an art museum as James slips into another room in an attempt to steal a case locked artifact. Are the boys a part of the plan? What about his wife? These details aren’t immediately known but it appears that James has worked out his plan fairly well in advance. I like these initial scenes but the narrative takes a dive about half way through bringing us down a path which offers little rewards or answers for viewers.
The tone of the film is accompanied by a cool jazz score by Rob Mazurek which sets up the mischief of the story, much like Henry Mancini did for The Pink Panther movies. However, the ultimate narrative here is darker and less playful. TVs and newspapers note the escalating war in Vietnam, of which James seems pretty oblivious. His misdeeds, he later says, are all for the benefit of his immediate family. His father is a high-powered judge and his mother, played by Hope Davis, comes across as fairly sophisticated but perhaps a bit of an enabler. How James fell so low isn’t entirely clear. In a scene later in the film, we meet James’s friends Maude and Fred, played by Gaby Hoffman and John Magaro, who he hasn’t seen in some time. Maude alludes to a questionable association he had with one of his architecture professors which might be the reason for James’s descent. However, his motivation for thievery is not really explored with any great detail. As such, there are major holes in the plot’s background that remain mostly unfilled by the end.
Given that we know so little about James’s past it’s hard to empathize with his situation. Instead of filling us in and fleshing it out, Reichardt puts James on the run for the latter sequences in the film. Sadly, the narrative peters out at this point. We never really know what his plan for the art was to begin with. There is one overly long scene in which he hides paintings in a barn loft. Why so much time is spent on the scene without a solid resolution is one of the general disappointments I had with the film: too much is left unsaid.
Since Josh O’Connor is at the center of almost every scene, it is his performance which anchors the film. He’s fine in the role, especially in some of the early scenes with his mother. He can’t seem to establish eye contact with her suggesting how uncomfortable he is revealing the details and depth of his situation with her. Instead he asks her for money. Clearly, there’s been a struggle between James and his parents for a while but again we don’t really get much elaboration as to why.
The most successful part of the film comes roughly in its second act when a major heist is planned, executed, and then gets botched. Everything from that point on becomes less interesting and well-developed. There’s not much for viewers to feel satisfied with during the final act. We’re ultimately left with the big question, “why did we sit through this particular character’s downfall?”
The Mastermind played at the Chicago International Film Festival. It is now playing in theaters.
FILM: THE MASTERMIND
DIRECTED BY: KELLY REICHARDT
STARRING: JOSH O’CONNOR, ALANA HAIM, HOPE DAVIS
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
My track record for appreciating writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s work is a bit spotty. I loved two of her more recent films, Showing Up and First Cow, but I was not a fan of her earlier arthouse hits such as Wendy and Lucy and Meek’s Cutoff. Sad to say, I was pretty disappointed with where she takes her latest, The Mastermind. Josh O’Connor plays art thief James Mooney in 1970, a path he chose apparently after having failed as an architect. Reichardt doesn’t offer a lot of reasons why James has taken this route although he does have a wife, played by Alana Haim, and two young sons to provide for. In the very first scene, one of the boys is talking incessantly in an art museum as James slips into another room in an attempt to steal a case locked artifact. Are the boys a part of the plan? What about his wife? These details aren’t immediately known but it appears that James has worked out his plan fairly well in advance. I like these initial scenes but the narrative takes a dive about half way through bringing us down a path which offers little rewards or answers for viewers.
The tone of the film is accompanied by a cool jazz score by Rob Mazurek which sets up the mischief of the story, much like Henry Mancini did for The Pink Panther movies. However, the ultimate narrative here is darker and less playful. TVs and newspapers note the escalating war in Vietnam, of which James seems pretty oblivious. His misdeeds, he later says, are all for the benefit of his immediate family. His father is a high-powered judge and his mother, played by Hope Davis, comes across as fairly sophisticated but perhaps a bit of an enabler. How James fell so low isn’t entirely clear. In a scene later in the film, we meet James’s friends Maude and Fred, played by Gaby Hoffman and John Magaro, who he hasn’t seen in some time. Maude alludes to a questionable association he had with one of his architecture professors which might be the reason for James’s descent. However, his motivation for thievery is not really explored with any great detail. As such, there are major holes in the plot’s background that remain mostly unfilled by the end.
Given that we know so little about James’s past it’s hard to empathize with his situation. Instead of filling us in and fleshing it out, Reichardt puts James on the run for the latter sequences in the film. Sadly, the narrative peters out at this point. We never really know what his plan for the art was to begin with. There is one overly long scene in which he hides paintings in a barn loft. Why so much time is spent on the scene without a solid resolution is one of the general disappointments I had with the film: too much is left unsaid.
Since Josh O’Connor is at the center of almost every scene, it is his performance which anchors the film. He’s fine in the role, especially in some of the early scenes with his mother. He can’t seem to establish eye contact with her suggesting how uncomfortable he is revealing the details and depth of his situation with her. Instead he asks her for money. Clearly, there’s been a struggle between James and his parents for a while but again we don’t really get much elaboration as to why.
The most successful part of the film comes roughly in its second act when a major heist is planned, executed, and then gets botched. Everything from that point on becomes less interesting and well-developed. There’s not much for viewers to feel satisfied with during the final act. We’re ultimately left with the big question, “why did we sit through this particular character’s downfall?”
The Mastermind played at the Chicago International Film Festival. It is now playing in theaters.