British director Michael Winterbottom pursues his preoccupation with the novels of Thomas Hardy. First, it was Jude, based on Jude the Obscure. Now he takes on The Mayor of Casterbridge, maintaining the tale's mid-19th-century setting, but relocating its thrusts and themes to frontier California at the fag-end of the Gold Rush. The film focuses on feudal town boss Dillon (Peter Mullan) and the consequences for him of two simultaneous arrivals: that of the railroad surveyor (Wes Bentley), whose routing decision for the new transcontinental track could make or break the town, and that of Dillon's estranged wife and daughter (Nastassja Kinski, Sarah Polley), whom he sold for gold years earlier. Mountains make for beautiful backdrops, and Winterbottom's recreation of gritty, grimy frontier life is so realistic you'll end up feeling grubby. But the film's background is consistently more interesting than its foreground. Dillon excepted, the characters are underdeveloped, and generally fail to arouse the emotions that they should. The film's decision to float around among rather too many of the characters means it lacks focus, too. And Western fans may rue the lack of gunplay. But the film is interesting as an indication of Winterbottom's growing directorial ambitions. It just didn't stake a claim to much of our attention.