Full disclosure I am not a Kelly Reichardt fan. Her films are fine, and really an aquired taste, which I have not aquaired.
THE MASTERMIND is the story of a loser in 1970 who tries to stage an art heist and have it all go wrong.
Think of a Wes Anderson inspired film filtered through Reichhardt's eyes about a jerk of a guy who seems to snow everyone, especially himself. It's scored with an intrusive jazz score that occasionally overwhelms the images. It's not a bad film but after about five minutes there is no development of any character except for his friend who throws him out. Actually there are no surprises anywhere in this film at any point except the very last couple of minutes which are out of left field... it's actually brilliant but not at the end of this two hour mess. Outside of that you know pretty much everything is going to happen - its all going to go horribly wrong in ways that will embarrass everyone on screen all but one of which is too dumb to call out the main character on his bullshit. Why watch when we know what is going to happen once we meet every character and how we are going to be told the story?
The real problem with the film is that the film effectively ends at a certain point, but Reichardt keeps things going for almost an hour as hour as the protaganist goes on the run and does absolutely nothing but go from place to place checking in and out of motels and looking for friends. Had the film ended when the son is dropped off this would have been a good little film, but instead it drives right off the cliff into oblivion. Worse, not only does nothing happen the main character doesn't arc- nor does anyone else. We are watching the same moron at the end as we see at the start.
Even if I was a Reichardt fan, THE MASTERMIND would still be a misfire
No comments:
Post a Comment