Director Kelly Reichardt's latest film "The Mastermind" transforms the true story of a 1972 art museum robbery into a visually striking piece of architectural cinema. Starring Josh O'Connor and Alana Haim, the film reimagines the real-life heist orchestrated by Florian Al Monday at the Worcester Art Museum, using the renowned I.M. Pei-designed Cleo Rogers Memorial Library in Columbus, Indiana as its primary filming location.
The film follows James Blaine "J.B." Mooney, played by British actor O'Connor, a fictionalized version of the original mastermind Monday. Rather than filming at the actual Worcester Museum of Art, Reichardt's production team transformed the Pei-designed library into the fictional "Framingham Museum of Art." The iconic building's modernist architecture, along with Henry Moore's "Large Arch" sculpture positioned outside, features prominently throughout the film and serves as a visual anchor for the story.
Set designer Anthony Gasparro drew inspiration from photographer Stephen Shore's images of dingy motel rooms to create the film's distinctive visual aesthetic. The production utilized multiple Columbus, Indiana locations, including Eliel Saarinen's First Christian Church, while interior museum scenes were shot in a specially designed off-site warehouse. Additional exterior scenes were filmed in Cincinnati, Ohio, creating a cohesive architectural narrative that spans multiple locations.
Reichard employed classic 1970s cinematography techniques, including Dutch angle shots overlooking the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library's sunken plaza for the opening credits. This plaza notably housed an installation by Deborah Garcia in 2023 as part of Exhibit Columbus, adding another layer of artistic significance to the location. The film's visual style deliberately echoes the era's cinematic conventions while showcasing the timeless quality of modernist architecture.
Costume designer Amy Roth created an authentic 1970s palette featuring khaki, corduroy, tweed, and everyday blue jeans that perfectly captures what the film calls "slacker chic" fashion. O'Connor's portrayal of a middle-class Massachusetts resident struggling to make ends meet has been praised for its authentic accent and believable characterization, avoiding the over-the-top performances often seen in Boston-set films.
The film draws clear parallels to "Friends of Eddie Coyle" (1973), another Boston noir gangster film starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle that similarly used architectural backdrops by renowned designers including Pei, Paul Rudolph, and Michael McKinnell. Both films use the combination of period fashion and late modern architecture to paint a portrait of post-industrial New England, though "The Mastermind" presents a less sympathetic protagonist in Mooney, who is portrayed as the lazy son of a judge and art school dropout.
True to Reichardt's signature directorial style, "The Mastermind" unfolds as a slow-burning visual experience with minimal dialogue and deliberately opaque character development. The real-life Monday hired amateur criminals in 1972 to steal works by Rembrandt, Picasso, and two Gauguins without having any buyers lined up, earning the film its sardonically titled name. In Reichardt's dramatized version, the thieves instead target four paintings by American abstract artist Arthur Dove.
The heist sequence itself presents a surreal spectacle of masked amateur criminals entering the museum, removing paintings from walls, placing them in bags, and escaping in a station wagon after a brief struggle with a security guard. This scene bears similarities to the infamous 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist in Boston, where thieves successfully stole two Rembrandts and a Vermeer. Unlike that unsolved case, however, Mooney's character faces swift justice as police easily track him down.
Reichard places the Vietnam War as subtle background noise throughout the film, with television pundits discussing news from Cambodia and anti-war protesters visible in downtown Worcester (actually filmed in Columbus). Mooney's complete indifference to these major historical events serves to highlight his self-absorbed character. When he hangs the stolen paintings in his living room after reading about the heist on newspaper front pages, he stares at them as if his criminal act was completely ordinary.
Alana Haim takes on the role of Mooney's wife, contributing to the film's ensemble cast that moves with Reichardt's characteristic deliberate pacing. The jazz-influenced film score by Rob Mazurek provides atmospheric support that distinguishes the movie from typical heist films like "Ocean's Eleven" or "The Thomas Crown Affair." Instead of relying on snappy dialogue or elaborate action sequences, "The Mastermind" allows its set design, costume work, and architectural settings to carry much of the narrative weight.
The film's static and entropic cinematography creates an atmosphere that captures the gritty, slice-of-life aesthetic that has become Reichardt's trademark. Her minimalist screenplay approach, combined with the carefully curated architectural locations selected by Gasparro and the production team, establishes "The Mastermind" as a unique entry in the art heist genre that prioritizes visual storytelling over conventional narrative techniques.
