Rent The Mastermind (2025)
3.2 of 5 from 91 ratings
1h 46min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- In a sedate Massachusetts suburb circa 1970, unemployed family man and amateur art thief J.B. Mooney (Josh O'Connor) sets out on his first heist. With the museum cased and accomplices recruited, he has an airtight plan. Or so he thinks.
- Actors:
- Josh O'Connor, Sterling Thompson, Alana Haim, Jasper Thompson, Bill Camp, Hope Davis, Eli Gelb, Cole Doman, Carrie Lazar, Javion Allen, Reighan Bean, Katie Hubbard, Margot Anderson-Song, Avery Deutsch, Deb G. Girdler, Dick Hagerman, Juan Carlos Hernández, Ryan Homchick, Matthew Maher, Marc Ross
- Directors:
- Kelly Reichardt
- Producers:
- Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
- Writers:
- Kelly Reichardt
- Aka:
- Mente maestra
- Studio:
- Mubi
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Kelly Reichardt
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 29/06/2026
- Run Time:
- 110 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing, German Forced, German Full, German Hard of Hearing, Spanish, Spanish Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- "The Mastermind: Unwinding the Heist Film" A Video Essay
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 29/06/2026
- Run Time:
- 110 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing, German Forced, German Full, German Hard of Hearing, Spanish, Spanish Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 0 (All)
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- "The Mastermind: Unwinding the Heist Film" A Video Essay
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Reviews (2) of The Mastermind
All Scheme, No Clear - The Mastermind review by griggs
I watched this hoping I knew what a Kelly Reichardt heist film would even look like. The Mastermind is pretty much what I’d imagined: less “thrill ride”, more “slow-motion car crash of a man’s life”. If you’re expecting slick planning montages and last-minute twists, you’re watching the wrong film.
Josh O’Connor shuffles through as a gormless dreamer, a man so busy rehearsing not just the fantasy of being a criminal genius but life itself that he never quite clocks how little grip he has on reality. He’s an abject loser, but never a cartoon one; Reichardt gives him just enough charm and self-delusion that you end up half-rooting for him and half-wincing.
The heist elements are almost beside the point. What sticks is the mood: languid pacing, a smoky jazz score curling round the edges, and Reichardt’s usual eye for small, telling details.
2 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
An atmospheric existential thriller tracking the ultimate loser's progress - The Mastermind review by Philip in Paradiso
This is an odd film in more ways than one. It fits into the category of the so-called existential thriller and, in fact, reminded me a lot of the 1975 movie, 'The Passenger', starring Jack Nicholson. This is probably no coincidence as the film takes place in the 1970s and re-creates the atmosphere of the period very well. It is about the 1970s, in the style of the 1970s. This probably explains the blurry, sepia colour that envelops the entire movie: even when the sun is shining, the colours are still brownish, somehow. I was not sure this was absolutely necessary, in fact.
The story tracks the progress - or lack of - of the ultimate anti-hero. James Blaine Mooney, known as JB (Josh O'Connor), is the son of a judge and his family is well-to-do. But he is some kind of drifter and dreamer, who seems to be a complete failure, career-wise. This has not prevented him from acquiring a wife, who has a regular office job, and 2 sons, who are vaguely annoying as American kids can be, in American movies. JB comes up with a brilliant plan to steal 4 paintings from a local museum - he studied art at university and is quite knowledgeable when it comes to modern art, more particularly. JB needs accomplices to execute the crime. Things do not go quite according to plan, as you would expect, and the story develops from here. In the movie, JB is the titular 'mastermind', improbable as this may be.
The film is not a thriller in the conventional sense: do not expect spectacular action scenes or fireworks. It could be called an anti-thriller starring an anti-hero: the heist is only a pretext. The core of the story is JB's existential slow-motion car crash. JB is a conman and a loser, but he is strangely fascinating: I suppose we can identify with him as he struggles through life, trying to make sense of his initiatives, i.e. his mistakes. The film has plenty of long silences and slow-motion shots: it is the kind of movie where you are always expecting something big - something truly big - to happen, and it never does, so, you are kept waiting, and yet you are fascinated because you want to believe something big might be round the corner. The jazzy score is ever-present, sometimes a bit too much, perhaps. The film is good at creating an atmosphere - an absurdist mood. So, overall, it is an odd but a good film, a strangely compelling tale, but certainly not the masterpiece many commentators have claimed it is.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.