When bumping into a friend recently at a choir concert, he told me he’s sad because he feels there’s so few options for grown ups to enjoy in local movie theaters right now. I was taken aback when I heard my friend say this. But after a few minutes of thinking, I realized he was right.
The "Wicked" sequel and the romantic comedy "Eternity" are the only films offering anything entertaining for discerning adults. (And yes, I did purposely leave out "Avatar: Fire and Ash" from this paragraph.)
So if movie theaters are not going to deliver anything notable right now, especially in the typical center of Oscar season continually releasing prestige films, we have no choice but to search for movie options at home. And the latest film I watched at home is "The Mastermind" currently available on the streaming service MUBI.
In 1970 small-town Massachusetts, unemployed and uninspired family man James Mooney (Josh O'Connor, "Challengers," 2024) decides his chance for financial success is to steal four paintings from the walls of a local art museum without his family discovering his plan. With two random helpers, the paintings are successfully stolen (sort of) in the middle of the day while visitors are roaming the museum.
But a few surprises make this heist bumpier than expected. Police and gangsters start snooping around James’ life, forcing him to a life on the run.
Although the main excitement of this one is the robbery at the art museum, I would never say The Mastermind is a heist or a caper film. It’s too plain, patient, and verbally spare for any comparisons to something like "Ocean’s Eleven" (2001), "Now You See Me" (2013), or even "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975). "The Mastermind" has no twists, colorful characters, or the adrenaline rush of a chase sequence. This film is less about achieving the theft and more about the man trying to complete it.
When James’ plan doesn’t unfold the way he hopes, "The Mastermind" turns into a solitary portrait of the American dream’s underbelly. Riding near-empty buses and robbing the elderly, the main character turns into a quietly desperate loner with fewer and fewer places to hide.
In an interview online, director/writer Kelly Reichard once said, “My movies end up being about the moments of getting from here to there, but not in a grand way. Getting from the hutch to town, from the parking lot to the gas station. But this isn't a grand plan - I am just a practical person.”
It is this unadorned practicality that makes "The Mastermind" unique and enjoyable similar to Kelly Reichardt’s other great works, "First Cow" (2019) and "Showing Up" (2022). But this film moves so gradually, that it’s easy to realize it is not for everyone. Some people may say it’s slow and boring, and I understand that criticism. It deftly captures the disillusionment of an American generation lost to economic hardship and political unrest. And for this reason, I hope people will give this film a shot.
