Mill Valley Film Festival

The Californians was shown to an enthusiastic audience on Saturday October 8. The director and producer were there to take questions and comments. As much of the film was shot (or implied to be) within miles of the theater, there was a familiarity with the locations as well as the mindsets of the developer (Noah Wyle) and the eco-friendly crowd (Kate Mara, Ileana Douglas, Cloris Leachman, Keith Carradine and Valerie Perrine).

In fact, perhaps the loudest reaction from the audience came from a quick scene that may have been shot blocks from the theatre, in one of our very organic, hip food markets. The audience roared when the checker announced the total amount due, for just a few items that could fit in a lunch bag. It was familiarly outrageous!

Wyle, who in real life attended the same boarding school as Leachman's own son, plays a developer set on paving the world, while his twin sister, played by Ileana Douglas, is an anti-development conservationist. Computer graphics were used to "develop" a hillside in Tiburon, a tony town next to Mill Valley, and it is hard to imagine how the whole story was "based" on the Henry James novel, "The Bostonians", but it was, and with minor changes. In "The Bostonians", Wyle's character was named Basil, and director/writer Parker decided "Gavin" would be more current, causing some in the audience to ask if that name came from San Francisco's mayor Gavin Newsom, who had coincidentally gone to high school nearby.

Kate Mara is fetching, and as she is also a singer, she played the part of Keith Carradine's daughter and singing partner quite.... professionally!

It may be hard to judge this picture as it is so close to home, literally and figuratively, but in the vernacular of the San Francisco Chronicle's review capsules, the "Little Man" is either watching intently, or clapping.