The Californians

Castleberry’s vibrant if overstuffed latest (after Nine Shiny Objects) shifts between the lives of a filmmaker who, in the early 20th century, has trouble transitioning from silent films to talkies, and his granddaughter, who makes a name for herself in New York City’s art scene in the 1980s. In 1925, German Jewish immigrant Klaus Aaronsohn renames himself Klaus von Stiegl and heads to California to make expressionistic films. Half a century later, his granddaughter Di reverses the journey to become a successful artist in New York whose paintings tackle the AIDS crisis and environmental concerns. Their alternating stories are bookended, briefly and unproductively, by that of wealthy slacker Tobey Harlan, who, after being driven from his house in present-day California by a wildfire, impulsively steals three of Di’s paintings from his father’s home and sells them. Castleberry interlaces scenes from his characters’ lives with newspaper clippings, term papers, and other ephemera along with glimpses into the lives of their friends and relatives. Though vivid and credibly detailed, the individual scenes don’t add up to a coherent whole: Di’s story in particular peters out after she achieves success. This portrait of narcissistic artists frustrates more than it illuminates. Agent: Chad Luibl, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Mar.)