The Mastermind

In sleepy Massachusetts in the 1970s, James Mooney (Josh O’Connor), an ex-art student and jobless carpenter, plots to steal paintings from a small museum in the Boston suburbs. The plan looks foolproof, but ends up being derailed by small details. With discreet humour and an astutely political viewpoint, Kelly Reichardt deconstructs the heist subgenre at her own pace, replacing its traditional glamour with the weight of consequences and the banality of everyday crime. The result is a bitingly ironic take on American individualism. The Mastermind was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes and chosen by the New York Times as one of the ten best films of 2025.