A new Kelly Reichardt movie is always cause for celebration, and this fall will see her return to the big screen with “The Mastermind.” The Josh O’Connor vehicle sees the famously deliberate director taking her talents to New England in the 1970s, with the actor starring as a carpenter who makes a regrettable career pivot into art theft.
An official synopsis for the film reads: “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.”
“The Mastermind” premiered in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where critics praised Reichardt for branching out from her typical Pacific Northwest locations and subject matter while still keeping her distinct style intact.
“Shot on film with the grainy warmth that evokes a sleepy 1970 New England municipality as much as it does actual movies from the ‘70s, ‘The Mastermind’ is Reichardt’s version of a heist movie — meaning that the filmmaker hijacks conventions laid by filmmakers like Jean-Pierre Melville and Sidney Lumet for a spin that still retains her patient bent for long, luxuriating takes,” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in his Cannes review. “Here, Josh O’Connor plays J.B. Mooney (what a name!), an art thief who falls down a hole of his own digging, as a poorly hatched job to rip off a series of Arthur Dove abstract paintings from a fictional Massachusetts museum sends his private and family lives careening out of his grasp.”
“The Mastermind” is written and directed by Kelly Reichardt, who reunites with her frequent cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt. In addition to O’Connor, the film stars Alana Haim, Gaby Hoffman, John Magaro, Hope Davis, and Bill Camp. The film will next screen at the New York Film Festival alongside other Cannes, Venice, and Toronto favorites and premieres like Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On?”
The film is part of a big fall for O’Connor, who also stars alongside Paul Mescal in “The History of Sound” and in Rian Johnson’s new “Knives Out” mystery “Wake Up Dead Man.” Next spring, he stars alongside Emily Blunt in Steven Spielberg’s untitled UFO blockbuster.
A MUBI release, “The Mastermind” opens in select theaters on Friday, October 17. Watch the trailer below.
