Josh O’Connor is The Mastermind in trailer for Kelly Reichardt’s latest
One of the filmmakers I’m always excited to see a new movie from is Kelly Reichardt, one of the true modern visionaries. So consider me ready for The Mastermind, the trailer of which has arrived.
In the trailer for The Mastermind, we meet James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor), who it’s believed by both his father (Bill Camp) and his wife (Alana Haim) to have too much time on his hands. But James is actually quite busy staking out and planning his big break. As per the official plot from Mubi: “In a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.” The cast also includes Hope Davis, Gaby Hoffmann, Joe Magaro, and more.
The trailer for The Mastermind definitely shows off some of the traits from Kelly Reichardt that have made her such a compelling filmmaker but it also looks to branch out a bit in terms of themes and character types, tinkering with the sort of people she is placing in these situations and the genre (here, the heist film) itself, in a way that feels unique not just for her but also today’s cinema.
Speaking on her process with PBS a few years ago, Reichardt said, “I think that’s the process of filmmaking all the way through: building things and taking it apart and building it, and, you know, you go back to the notecards and breaking it down and going back, and I like build how I want to shoot it in my image books…And I have an idea of how I want everything to go. And then the actors are there, but I want to see what they would bring. So it’s this idea of having a plan, but also being open to what might happen and what could be made that you hadn’t thought of yet when these people weren’t there.”
While Mubi was originally widely known as a streaming service, it has branched out into theatrical releases to varying scale. The most notable example as of late was Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, which earned five Oscars nominations, landing a win for her screenplay. With potential momentum there and The Mastermind and the film currently holding an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, maybe Kelly Reichardt can receive a long-overdue Best Original Screenplay nomination.
The Mastermind premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or (as did Reichardt’s previous film, Showing Up). Reichardt’s previous films that have received notable acclaim include 2006’s Old Joy, 2008’s Wendy and Lucy, 2010’s Meek’s Cutoff, and 2019’s First Cow.
The Mastermind arrives on October 17th.
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