THE MASTERMIND

2025 | USA | 110m

Written and Directed by Kelly Reichardt

Starring Josh O'Connor and Alana Haim

Only in Theaters 

October 17 (NY/LA), October 24 (Expanding)

In a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, JB Mooney (Josh O'Connor) an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief, plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.

Written and Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Josh O'Connor, Alana Haim, Gabby Hoffman, John Magaro, Hope Davis, and Bill Camp
Cinematography: Christopher Blauvelt
Editor: Kelly Reichardt
Composer: Rob Mazurek
Production Design: Anthony Gasparro

Kelly Reichardt’s latest film The Mastermind is set in a Massachusetts suburb in 1970. James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor), an unemployed carpenter dabbles in petty art theft. With his eyes on some easy money, Mooney plots his first big heist with a gang of small-time thugs, orchestrating a daring daylight raid on a small local art museum to steal a series of abstract paintings by American artist Arthur Dove. When things go fully haywire, Mooney’s world begins to unravel.

The Mastermind looks and feels very different from Reichardt’s other films. “Jean-Pierre Melville‘s [films] are my favorite” Reichardt states, citing the French director’s later neo-noir movies like Le Cercle rouge (1970) and Un Flic (1972), “and the ‘hard novels’ of Georges Simenon—plots where the outcome is always doom.” Upending the genre’s typical time structure, Reichardt’s story places the heist in the film’s first quarter, leaving the remainder of its run to deal with the event’s after-effects. “It’s an aftermath film, an unraveling film,” she says. Continuing a theme that runs throughout the director’s career, The Mastermind examines what happens to a person—and those around them—once their actions have consequences.

The burglary takes place in Framingham, Massachusetts, a normally quiet municipality located halfway between Worcester and Boston. J.B. Mooney and his accomplices lift a suite of paintings from the fictional Framingham Museum of Art. Reichardt decided against having the criminals go for the big-name Old Masters. ”J.B. isn’t that ambitious. He goes for the paintings he’s familiar with and feels a connection to,” the filmmaker says. Instead, she chose to have them target an exhibition of paintings by Arthur Dove, a favorite artist of Reichardt’s. An influential but lesser-known modernist who is often cited as the first abstract painter in the United States, Dove worked throughout half of the twentieth century until his death in 1946. Mooney’s gang grab four paintings by Dove: Willow Tree (1937), Yellow Blue Green Brown (1941), Tree Forms (1932) and Tanks & Snowbanks (1938). Elsewhere in the exhibit, we can see Red Sun (1932), one of Dove’s most iconic works.

For the museum’s exterior scenes, Reichardt’s team shot at the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library in Columbus, Indiana. Completed in 1969, the facility was designed by architect I. M. Pei with an eye to revitalizing the town’s center. The library is a humble modernist brick-box building, opening onto a circular front plaza that features a monumental Henry Moore bronze (Large Arch, 1971) at its center.

To perfect the look that she wanted for her film, Reichardt and cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt revisited the 70s films of Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller, particularly the muted, brunette-tinged color schemes of The American Friend (1977), among other titles. “Christopher and I, years ago, got the chance to see John Huston’s Fat City (1972) on the screen together. That film, I think, is really part of our collective DNA. Like a lot of people my age, you kind of can’t escape the influences of photography heavies like Stephen Shore and William Eggleston.”

The film was scored by musician Rob Mazurek of the jazz ensemble Chicago Underground Trio, working with ensemble member Chad Taylor. Mazurek and Taylor each provided solos, on trumpet and drums, respectively, and the music was recorded at studios in Philadelphia and Marfa, Texas. Having a full jazz soundtrack is a departure for Reichardt, who has used the musical genre only briefly in her prior work. 

The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2025, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. It is scheduled to be released in New York and Los Angeles by Mubi on October 17, 2025.