“The Mastermind” is anything but.
The titular character of director Kelly Reichardt’s film, JB Mooney (Josh O’Connor), is bored or repelled by the life he’s expected to lead, so he steals art instead. When he finally goes to pull his big heist, it’s ill-conceived and poorly executed, forcing him to think on his feet, which, it turns out, is not something he does all that well.
Reichardt is best known for her quiet, often brooding or melancholic movies set in Oregon (“Wendy and Lucy,” “Meek’s Cutoff,” “First Cow”), but she often works in different time periods and styles.
“Not to be corny, but I love the language of cinema,” she said in a recent video interview. “There’s always something to learn.”
“The Mastermind” not only switches to the opposite coast, but it also marks another shift