"His two kids and beautiful working wife, Terri (Alana Haim), the classic two-story home with a yard and a garage-these trappings hold no interest in someone who studied to be an artist but settled for sporadic work as a carpenter. J.B.'s wealthy parents, a circuit court judge (Bill Camp) and casual philanthropist (Hope Davis), encourage him to take control of his time, make more of himself."
"With a "loan" from his mother, J.B. enlists three henchmen to steal four paintings by the early abstract painter Arthur Dove from the fictional Framingham Museum of Art, getting the idea after repeatedly surveying the place and impulsively stealing a figurine under the guards' noses. The museum's vulnerability, its presumption of safety, catalyzes the inciting action in Kelly Reichardt's The Mastermind."
"The heist-a robbery in broad daylight, in direct sight of numerous patrons and sleepy security guards-goes awry almost immediately. One accomplice steals a car but backs out as the getaway driver on the day; another brings a gun and a nervy attitude that turns the whole affair into armed robbery. Bumbling and flustered, they get the paintings out of the museum, but not without raising their profiles to the point where notoriety and warrants are all but a given."
James Mooney, known as J.B., resents his comfortable suburban life and believes he deserves more. His family life and middle-class trappings leave him unfulfilled despite studying art and working as a carpenter. After a loan from his mother, he recruits three accomplices to steal four Arthur Dove paintings from the fictional Framingham Museum of Art, inspired by prior surveillance and a petty theft. The daylight heist quickly unravels as accomplices falter and an armed threat escalates the crime. The stolen paintings are removed, but the botched operation raises their profiles and legal exposure. The story is set in 1970 amid Vietnam escalation and domestic unrest.
Read at The Nation
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