Tags: blog, film, thriller, recommended, 2025
Author: KickingK
Date: Sunday December 28th, 2025
Crime and Mediocrity
Another gem from Kelly Reichardt sees her combining the themes of both her previous films, crime and art. Josh O'Connor plays JB, an unemployed carpenter and married father of two, who decides he wants to rob the local art gallery.
The setup and plot is completely boilerplate, about as standard a heist thriller as you can get. All the tension of the film is supplied by the incredibly skittish jazz score by Rob Mazurek, which is worth the price of entry alone. Not that there is much tension here. Reichardt's dispassionate eye takes almost every opportunity to lower the stakes, to show that JB has options. It's just that those options always have consequences.
Which brings us to the actual theme of the film. Just as First Cow isn't about crime and showing up isn't about (capital 'A') Art, The Mastermind isn't interested in the heist, it's interested in watching a privileged guy ruin his life by being unable to realise just how mediocre he really is. And just how incapable he is of taking responsibility.
About half way through the movie, as his inability to make a connection with another human being, let alone care about them or see things from their perspective, becomes painfully obvious, we realise that there's no way he's going to get away this. Not because he's too stupid, but because he hasn't realised he's not the main character in the world.
This film felt like a reaction to American Animals. The crime is almost identical, as is the comfortable backgrounds of the protagonists. But where that film failed is that it didn't want to be too harsh on it's subjects, eventually irritating with it's failure to truly condemn them.
Reichardt's take on the subject may seem dispassionate but there's no doubt on how damning her conclusion is.
