THE MASTERMIND (in theatres)

Director Kelly Reichardt’s films creep in through the back door and emerge fully bloomed, in the living room, 75 plus minutes later. She is a mastermind of the benign, allowing viewers into the lives of the least noticed: working class, ordinary souls, nonthreatening or intimidating but through her lens, interesting. A myriad of movies define her intuitive aesthetic; my favorites are “First Cow”(2019) , an innovative scenario of a “get rich quick” scheme, both hilarious and poignantly pathetic; “Certain Women” (2016), addresses the plight of intelligent women (depicted impeccably by Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and Kristen Stewart) struggling in a patriarchal milieu, referencing the biblical female disciples of Christ; slowly but provocatively paced, their palpable pain throbs with anguish and defeatism.

It was with keen anticipation that I ventured into “The Mastermind”, a film highlighting actor Josh O’Connor’s idiosyncratic, quirky deftness; “The Crown”, “LaChimera”, “Challengers” others, earning his starring role as “James Blaine Mooney, J.B.” in Reichardt’s recent, far from masterful film.  Alas, in a minority, disappointment reigned as the film moved through the feckless “J.B’s” idiotic, brainless theft caper; he is an unemployed carpenter with a wife, 2 children and a father who is a judge; hiring imbeciles to orchestrate his “museum” inspired theft; humorous, daytime choreographed heist, was a worthy watch but paled with progression: hiding works in a loft, culprits caught and the unveiling of the other miscreants necessitating J.B.’s fleeing from culpability. Determined by the vicissitudes of the Viet Nam war (1970); demonstrations, Richard Nixon’s debauched presidency, unsophisticated museum security; J.B.’s plight exacerbated by his naïve gullibility (O’Connor’s interpretation, spotless). Predictability painfully prevails throughout.

Far more engrossing would have been the choice of artist, Arthur Dove (1880-1946) an American modernist, abstract painter; J.B.’s possible reason surfaces too late to create legitimacy in the film. Reichardt’s influences were the actual 1972 Worcester Art Museum robbery, Jean-Pierre Melville heist films, Jules Dassin’s “Rififi” and 1967 “Pillaged” by Alain Cavalier.

Regretfully, “The Mastermind” lacks the potency and vibrancy of Reichardt’s earlier features.

TWO & ½ STARS!!

Peneflix