Poster of the film The Mastermind

The Mastermind

Drama Crime English


In a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.

Cast:Josh O'Connor, Alana Haim, John Magaro, Hope Davis, Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann, Amanda Plummer, Eli Gelb, Cole Doman, Javion Allen, Matthew Maher
Director:Kelly Reichardt
Editor:Kelly Reichardt
Camera:Christopher Blauvelt

Guild Reviews

Image of scene from the film The Mastermind

Kelly Reichardt’s film is about a sloppy robber who is haunted by others’ perceptions of his failure

Fox in morning light

Shubhra Gupta | The Indian Express

Sun, May 25 2025

Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind can be described as a heist-gone-wrong, but it is not as interested in the act of stealing itself, as it is in the robber.

Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind is masterly in the way it creates characters with their rhythms and impulses, building on them with one surprise after another, till you have no idea where things are headed — there is only a tiny instance in which the director telegraphs a punch, but that is so fleeting that you barely have time to notice it, and it’s gone. The Competition section began with Mascha Schilinski’s The Sound Of Falling, a beguiling intergenerational saga of female despair and desire. It has ended with The Mastermind, a bumbling caper cum character-study which has the director’s distinctive interplay between drollery and sharp observational skills. It has climbed to the top of a slate crowded with solid films, including Joachim Trier’s moving family drama Sentimental Value, all contenders for the Palme d’Or.

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