You know what’s worse than losing everything? When it’s all your fault you’ve lost everything, and everyone who used to bail you out (family and friends) has finally bailed on you. Worse yet, you remain oblivious to the enormity of the problems you’ve created for yourself. That’s JB (Josh O’Connor) in a nutshell.
Maybe part of the reason The Mastermind resonated with me was because, in some ways, I was once kind-of like JB before finally pulling my head out of my butt and growing up a little. But at least I didn’t resort to robbery.
Set during 1970, JB is the mastermind of the title, an unemployed designer with a wife, Terri (Alana Haim), and two sons. Not only is he an irresponsible father, we immediately get the impression Terri, who works to support them, isn't all that happy with him. As the film opens, he plans a museum heist of four valuable paintings, enlisting a few local thieves to carry-out the robbery…and borrowing money from his exasperated mother in order to pay them (though he tells her it's for a job he’s been hired for).
JB is so confident in his “meticulous” plan that it doesn’t occur to him that anything could go wrong. In reality, it’s a pretty foolish plan that isn’t too far removed from a smash & grab, and it’s pretty clear he didn’t really think things through (an amusing observation later made by a couple of other characters). Things go as planned until one of his accomplices is caught and fingers JB as the mastermind behind the crime. Soon, the FBI is looking for him. To make matters worse, local mobsters find JB and force him to give them the stolen paintings.
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| JB traded the paintings for that sandwich. But in his defense, it was a really good sandwich. |
Though obstinately a heist film, The Mastermind is no Rififi. In a way, it’s kind of an anti-Rififi with an overly-confident slacker who isn’t nearly as brilliant as he thinks he is (and his cohorts are even dumber). We don’t sympathize with JB, either. After all, the guy just took a massive crap in his own nest and some viewers might find perverse pleasure in watching his life fall apart. Whatever we think of him, JB is a brilliantly conceived character and played with an effectively low-key performance by O’Connor. Because I saw a bit of the old me in him, I was simultaneously engaged and uncomfortable.
Some might be put-off by the film’s tone and glacial pace. The Mastermind is definitely a slow burn, its narrative growing increasingly episodic, with scenes that seem pretty meandering if taken at face value. But there’s actually a lot going on in those scenes, even those without dialogue, all of which shape JB’s character and other people’s feelings about him. As for this writer, I briefly wondered what the hell I just watched, but as someone who’s seen more heist films than the Surgeon General recommends, it was refreshing to see the genre turned on its ear.
EXTRA KIBBLES
THE MASTERMIND: UNWINDING THE HEIST FILM is an interesting analytical video essay.
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