The Mastermind Review: Josh O'Connor Leads an Art-Theft Film that Will Stay with You

How ‘The Mastermind’ Found 1970s New England in Ohio

Director Kelly Reichardt tells IndieWire about recreating small-town New England in Ohio and sending Josh O'Connor's art thief through the 1970s.

This film is about a heist but we’re robbed of its potential

Josh O’Connor stars in the cast of Kelly Reichardt’s new film, The Mastermind, which releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday October 23.

The Mastermind: this art theft heist offers a compassionate character study

Most caper movies tend to focus on the elaborate logistics of a theft – typically of an outlandishly colossal haul or priceless artefact (think Ocean’s Eleven or The Italian Job). In contrast, their close cousin, the heist film, focuses less on the mechanics of the crime and more on its invariably destructive human consequences (such as in Heat or The Town). While The Mastermind falls firmly into the latter camp, writer-director Kelly Reichardt …

The Mastermind review: Josh O'Connor leads an art-theft film that will stay with you

★★★☆☆The Mastermind is in cinemas from Friday 24 October. Add it to your watchlist“Honestly, I don’t think you’ve thought things through enough.” So James Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is told in Kelly Reichardt’s art-theft tale.Unveiled in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, The Mastermind might yet be Reichardt’s most commercial vehicle, although up against her earlier films like Wendy and Lucy, First Cow and Certain Women, all delicate, nuanced…

Playback: Kelly Reichardt's Small Gestures, from RIVER OF GRASS to THE MASTERMIND

Kelly Reichardt has spent her life chronicling the unhurried, uncertain rhythms of American life. Reichardt's films linger on people who live just outside the margins -- drifters, workers, artists -- capturing the fragile connections that hold them together. From the lost runaways of River of Grass (1994) to the dreaming travelers of First Cow (2019), Reichardt challenges the myths of self-reliance that shape the American landscape, revealing a …

Kelly Reichardt: ‘I’m fascinated with people stealing art’

Robert Bresson, Warren Oates and Jean-Pierre Melville are just some of the ingredients of The Mastermind, an existential heist movie with a political twist. Kelly Reichardt is one of the greatest directors working in the world today. Her films such as Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women and First Cow have grown into modern classics on the subject of people wrestling with the complex founding notions of America. Her excellent new film, T…