The Mastermind

The Mastermind is a film by its director, Kelly Reichardt, of films such as First Cow and Wendy and Lucy. It is, after all, a story that shatters expectations and shows America from a different perspective. Here, Josh O'Connor plays James Mooney, a family man and art lover who decides to take the "wrong path": stealing valuable works from a museum in his small town. However, anyone who thinks Kelly Reichardt follows the obvious path and makes a banal heist film is mistaken. Not at all. The American filmmaker goes the opposite direction, making a slow-moving feature film, as if simmering in a bain-marie, about this completely misguided robber who doesn't quite know what he's doing. The best part, however, is how the film reveals itself almost as a survival story of this pathetic character, brilliantly played by O'Connor. Everything around him oppresses him, from the war scene to the police brutality against hippies and even the "get out of here" from his friend's wife. The setting is brilliant: everything evokes this need to survive, even in the most crude way possible, creating a heist film in reverse with much to say about the formation of American society.