There’s no ping pong actor quite like Josh O’Connor. That’s not to say he’s good at being a Marty Supreme - which he may well be – it’s referring to his ability to ping pong from small independent projects to large studio ones, and to and fro.

From La Chimera to Challengers opposite Zendaya, Rebuilding to Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and Spielberg’s Disclosure Day to this, a quiet period drama.

1970, Framington, Massachusetts, and Arthur Dove (O’Connor) and his family are visiting the local art museum.

Arthur is there under false pretences however, as he’s stalking the joint for an upcoming robbery.

He’s a smart man, although struggling as a carpenter, and is looking for some quick cash to support his family.

He manages to get a crew together and targets four specific paintings to take in the museum. He thinks it’s fail safe, but is quickly proved wrong, as his plan falls apart, much like his life swiftly does too.

Kelly Reichardt is associated with slow films (with First Cow being a perfect example) and therefore the genre Slow Cinema, and her latest is no different.

The pacing is virtually non-existent, feeling as if it’s walking on the spot for most of it. It’s certainly a unique take for a heist movie, which is by no means the focus of the film, as we witness the repercussions of his botched robbery on Arthur’s life.

But as well presented as the seventies period is, the plot is just too sedate. O’Connor brings a certain academic charm to his character, but there’s just an almost suffocating sense of calm throughout, as he dawdles from one slow scene to the next.

At just ten minutes shy from being two hours in length, it is an overlong exploration of a man unable to escape his destiny. Thankfully, now you can watch it at home, you can simply fast forward to the last five minutes and lose absolutely nothing from its vacuous plot, and save yourself from the dreariness of it all.

Not only does it seem curious that there are enough examples of films to give existence to the genre of Slow Cinema, but even more so that filmmakers would be encouraged to produce such projects; after all, it’s hardly an attractive proposition for a film – “Quite possibly the slowest film yet”.

There’s certainly an irony in a film entitled The Mastermind being so mind-numbingly dull.

It’s great that O’Connor can bounce back and forth between big and small projects, but on this evidence, there should perhaps be more ping and less pong.