Unpacking 'The Mastermind': Art, Crime, and Consequence

Cannes 2025 is wrapping up this weekend—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. For our ninth episode from the sunny shores of southern France, all-star critics Justin Chang, Tim Grierson, and Allison Willmore join Editor Devika Girish for our final on-the-ground panel conversation from this year’s edition. The four dig into two of the most anticipated films from the festival’s later days, including Bi Gan’s Resurrection (4:30) and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind (26:10), before touching on some heretofore undiscussed competition selections: Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme (45:00), Saeed Roustayi’s Woman and Child (46:25), the Dardenne Brothers’s Young Mothers (50:40), and Mario Martone’s Fuori (1:02:05). Subscribe today to The Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.