Film archive, 2025

The Mastermind

Director Kelly REICHARDT

1Festival entries

6.5Overall

★Avg. rating

The Mastermind is the latest film from director Kelly Reichardt, who, along with Sean Baker, is one of the most important voices in contemporary American independent cinema. Having attempted to subvert the Western in Meek’s Cutoff (2010), she now deconstructs and reassembles the conventions of the heist genre. In the suburbs of 1970s Massachusetts, amidst the Vietnam War and the feminist movement, an ordinary middle-class family man named James steals a painting from a museum. However, the director summons the ‘bumbling jerk’ character type from the New Hollywood era to focus not on the crime itself, but on the reality that follows—the clumsy thief’s escape and the collapse of his family and daily life. Through this, she attempts to satirize and deconstruct typical masculinity while exploring the emotional landscape of a failed patriarch. It is a sad self-portrait of America that asks not what one accomplished, but the reason behind one’s failure. Without doubt, it is the most persuasive reinterpretation of a genre in Reichardt’s filmography.

Stills2

Film details

Director: Kelly REICHARDT
Country/Region: United States
Year: 2025
Length: 111min
Original language: English
Elsewhere: Letterboxd IMDb Wikidata TMDB Douban

Director

Kelly REICHARDT

Credits

Director: Kelly REICHARDT
Producer: Neil KOPP, Vincent SAVINO, Anish SAVJANI
Cast: Josh O′CONNOR, Alana HAIM, John MAGARO, Gaby HOFFMANN, Eli GELB, Hope DAVIS, Bill CAMP, Sterling THOMPSON, Jasper THOMPSON, Cole DOMAN
Screenplay: Kelly REICHARDT
Cinematography: Christopher BLAUVELT
Production design: Anthony GASPARRO
Editing: Kelly REICHARDT
Sound: Ryan BILLIA, Daniel TIMMONS
Music: Rob MAZUREK
Production company: filmscience, Mubi
World sales: The Match Factory

Festival appearances1

Choose a festival entry to see its screenings, articles and audience reviews.

The MastermindBusan International Film Festival 2025, No. 30Icons

Festival history1

釜山国际电影节, 2025Icons, Official selection

Film posters

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