The Mastermind (2025)

There is no film maker currently working today quite like Kelly Reichardt. She's arguably only become a household name (perhaps just in terms of cinephiles I might add) since the superb Meek's Cutoff (2010), a film that focused on a group of settlers traveling across the Orgeon High Desert. Since then, she's provided nothing but excellent work, and many would argue 2019's terrific First Cow is her best work to date. That is, perhaps, until The Mastermind. Josh O'Connor, a man in high demand at the moment, plays James; an abject shell of a man; vein, clueless, and totally oblivious to his own stupidity. He's married to Alana Haim's Terri and they have two boys, who we see in the film's opening traipsing around an art gallery with their mum while James studies the extremely lax security measures- as he plans to steal various pieces of art with the help of a few other equally feckless individuals. It's immediately clear he hasn't thought the robbery through, and there's no surprise when it turns out to be a disaster, and James ultimately must go on the run. Even when police come to visit his house after they swiftly track him down as the titular mastermind, his stupidity knows no bounds, essentially threatening the officers with the fact his dad is a judge. His mother is something of an enabler to James's life, she keeps handing him payouts with the futile belief that it's going to better his life. The most recent handout is to pay off the buffoons James hires to complete the burglary. O'Connor is brilliant, and James could almost be a relative of Arthur, his character in Alice Rohrwacher's sublime La Chimera (2024). But while Arthur's grave-robber is an intelligent and successful thief, James is one of the most frustrating characters you'll see on screen this year; a fact that you can see in the face and physical reactions of the brilliant Haim who is sensational in the way she's able to give you a monologue of dialogue just from an expression as her husband continually disappoints. Indeed, this sums up in a nutshell why Reichardt's film making is so good. In The Mastermind, she once again gives you so much with seemingly so little. Most of the film is James on the run, meaning we spend a huge amount of time with him. But somehow, Reichardt pulls you completely into this loser's story- and there's really not much there. O'Connor must take credit for how he somehow manages to keep you constantly engaged in his character, right through to the film's ending- one that's perfect, and climaxes the only way The Mastermind could. The Mastermind is a heist film in which we see the heist itself early on, and then follow the consequences. We've seen such a set up before of course, but not quite like this. Reichardt's choice of focus means that everything feels startlingly real, and it simply feels at times like we're literally following James's attempts to flee. There's no pulsing score, no swift editing, nothing that feels like a typical genre piece. This is what makes her work so effective, and it's undoubtedly what makes The Mastermind one of the films of the year. The period setting of the piece also adds to the visual narrative of the tale, and 1970's Massachusetts never looked so authentic. Perhaps Riechardt has never been this good, although her impressive back catalogue might argue otherwise. But The Mastermind is so comfortably one of 2025's finest films, you come out craving whatever she's producing next. 8.4/10