In terms of the title, Kelly Richardt’s “The Mastermind” is a Trojan horse. Our immediate reaction to seeing those two words together is to imagine a debonair, clever protagonist with plans that would rival even the most prepared football coach. But in this film, James Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is anything but a person who meticulously dots every i and is aware of a security guard’s patrol pattern down to the steps. In the 1970s, Framingham, Massachusetts, he is a particular kind of unremarkable. If life moves slowly in the small suburb, James has managed the art of completely standing still for it all to pass him by.
Discussions at the dinner table with his father and Judge William (Bill Camp) bore a sort of wish that James wasn’t so aloof. “What does he know that you don’t?” Williams asks his son as he gloats about Kip, a friend in the neighborhood who does the “tasks of the top man.” James is a carpenter, but work is slow—maybe because he’s not trying hard enough. He borrows money from his mother, Sarah (Hope Davis), and sells dreams of a big job that will set his career off on a new path. But the audience, like Sarah, can tell James is both full of it and never going to pay the money back.
Despite this, he has a relatively good home set with his wife, Terri (Alana Haim), and their two boys, Carl (Sterling Thompson) and Tommy (Jasper Thompson). Richardt opens “The Mastermind” at a local art museum, where James meanders around the paintings on the wall. He sets his eyes on a figurine and steals it without anyone knowing. It’s the green light for him to engineer a plan to steal four abstract paintings and then somehow steal them for profit. Like a lottery ticket someone would buy, hoping for the slight chance of winning millions, James is hoping to strike it big with way more criminal liability than possible.
With a heist film, there’s confidence, kinetic energy, and a heightened sense of danger. “The Mastermind” is the opposite, not so much in a “Hot Shots” series type of way, but instead meticulously undressing a clunky plan. James pulls together Guy (Eli Gelb) and Larry (Cole Doman) in a plan to steal four Arthur Dove paintings. There are concepts of a good heist plan, a set of cars, and a timed response for removing the paintings. James is way too much of a familiar around the museum, so he puts himself in charge of getaway duty. Our thoughtful steward also included “wild card” Ronnie Gibson (Javion Allen) in the capper, suggesting he will become a loose end later. For what it’s worth, they pull it off – not without scaring the bejeezus out of a couple of young ladies.
The funny thing about it is, there’s a void of what comes after because James isn’t exactly Danny Ocean. How do you get the money once you’ve stolen the paintings? Shouldn’t everyone in the group stick to a specific story if the police start asking questions? Once it’s over, Guy says to James, “Good luck with the rest of it.” As funny as it is to see the robbery in progress, Richardt’s primary focus is “the after,” and the result is not much.
In the background of the main plot of “The Mastermind,” the world is changing. The protests of the Vietnam War are hitting a fever pitch. Richardt adds this piece of history to the film naturally, whether through radio and television broadcasts or small interactions with the characters. It’s the excitable child jumping up and down to be noticed by an unattentive parent.
Yet, the deconstruction of James’s life post-heist and the pressure cooker of the conflict don’t meet until the last moments of the film when they can’t avoid one another any longer. If there is something that keeps people within James’s orbit, it’s promise. Richardt makes it clear that James has a certain charismatic flair that, at least initially, hypnotizes people into feeling that he’s either doing the right thing or making necessary changes. However, his soft-spoken voice, which he frequently uses to manipulate others, becomes increasingly grating to those closest to him over time.
In Richardt’s “Showing Up,” the endpoint was the opening night of a sculptor’s show. Within the in-between, the director showed the character’s process, the annoyances that get in her way, and an overall appreciation for what it takes to create art. In “The Mastermind,” James is the dog chasing the car that manages to catch it. This film’s focus is on looking back and realizing you’re too far gone from the horizons you may not have appreciated in the first place.
