Ever since The Asphalt Jungle , John Huston 's 1950 film about a jewel robbery, audiences and filmmakers have loved heist movies. You get the precise laying out of the plan, the robbery itself, the roaring getaway and the moment that things go wrong — there's always a snafu. A good heist movie offers the exacting pleasures of both the crime — and the plot — unfolding like clockwork.

The clock comes unsprung in The Mastermind , the latest film from Kelly Reichardt , whose devoutly un-Hollywood movies are as admired by critics as they are underseen by the public. Working with a deliberate approach all her own, she here takes the classic heist story, gives it a few tugs and shrugs, and winds up with a funny, sad movie that gets stronger and more original as it goes along.

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