From the Louvre Haul to The Mastermind

Many people saw it as a bit of fun as we explored a mock haul from the Louvre, inspired by the quirky escapades of a fictional art heist! But while our playful nod to jewel-thieving mischief might have sparked smiles, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind—screening at The Poly, Falmouth on Sunday 23 November, 5.15–7.15pm—offers a far more reflective take on crime, consequence, and chaos.

Reichardt, the acclaimed filmmaker behind First Cow and Showing Up, turns the heist genre inside out in this quietly riveting new drama. The Mastermind follows JB Mooney (played by Josh O’Connor), a down-on-his-luck carpenter and failed

art historian who persuades his mates to steal a series of Arthur Dove paintings from their local museum. The plan is doomed from the start—spotted by schoolgirls, bungled in a scuffle, and undone within days—but the director’s lens transforms their failure into something strangely beautiful.

Set in 1970s America, at the crossroads between the fading dreams of the 60s and the disillusionment of the new decade, Reichardt’s film pulses with quiet tension and political undercurrent. While Mooney stumbles from one mistake to the next, the background hums with anti-war protests, Nixon broadcasts, and the creeping rise of individualism. It’s a heist film stripped of glamour, where every choice reverberates through the people left behind—most heartbreakingly Mooney’s wife Terry (played by Alana Haim) and their two young sons.

Scored to a restless jazz soundtrack by Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor, The Mastermind is both melancholy and mischievous, an examination of how one man’s search for freedom ripples across others’ lives. In contrast to the real-life efficiency of those seven-minute Louvre thieves, Reichardt’s misfits remind us that freedom often comes at someone else’s cost—and that, sometimes, the greatest heist is simply getting away with ourselves.

🎟️ Screening Tickets The Mastermind

The Mastermind is included in our Pay What You Can initiative

📅 Sunday 23 November, 5.15–7.15 pm

📍 The Poly, Falmouth

🎬 Director: Kelly Reichardt