The Mastermind (2025)
Dir. Kelly Reichardt
Type of movie that you leave and google "josh o'connor the mastermind red sweater" on the train home to no avail.
Josh O'Connor's the fucking man, my favourite actor working right now. this is my first Kelly Reichardt, is it always this good? This movie was made for me—slow, meandering, fitted, contemplative, political. Most compellingly though, this felt like a uniquely unsympathetic portrait of a lost soul.
To me this was one of the most politically charged films of the year, although not as overt as others. The backdrop of the invasion of Cambodia coupled with the apathy towards it from all the characters in the film serves as a clear paradigm of the exceptionally capital-A American attitude of "that thing that's happening far away over there," exemplifying the character of a country entrenched in its own ego. Josh O'Connor's character himself resembles this America in a lot of ways. Blundering through life, nonchalantly making callous decisions and unbearably ignorant to their impact on those around him. Consistent in his insistence that what he does is for the good of others but ultimately serves only his own selfish desires to find something that is never to be found. A man unabashedly harbouring an audacity that can only be described as caucacity.
Maybe this was truly just a film about an art heist gone wrong. Maybe it's me just reading way too much into the details. Personally, I don't think so—but I also don't care. This is much more fun.