The Mastermind

Massachusetts, the 1970s: unemployed carpenter James Blaine Mooney, known to everyone as J.B., has come up with what he believes is a brilliant plan to get some money. All he has to do is steal a few paintings from the local art museum. He has thought everything through very carefully, he assures his accomplices Guy and Ronnie, nothing can go wrong. And indeed, the paintings by modernist painter Arthur Dove are stolen in broad daylight. But then what? Where do you keep the paintings in the meantime and how do you get rid of them? And worse still, Ronnie has informed the police.

Director Kelly Reichardt, known for films as Wendy & Lucy, Meek's Cutoff and First Cow, prefers to tell small stories about how people get by in small American communities. The Mastermind, her version of a heist movie, is no exception. Once again, she does so with gentle humour and sympathy for her characters. Starring Josh O'Connor in the lead role.