AFI FILM FEST: WEEK 2

L istings and commentary for Week 2 of the American Film Institute Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs through March 26:

FRIDAY

“Les Blank and Friends” (U.S.A, 1986, 11:30 p.m.). Two shorts from that canny observer of American tribal rites, documentarian Les Blank, plus a fanciful vignette written and directed by and starring Blank’s son Harrod. In “Huey Lewis and the News: Be-Fore!” Blank good-naturedly records the absurdities of making of a rock video in the Bahamas, and in “Gap-Toothed Women” he interviews a wide array of women, including actress-model Lauren Hutton, who’ve had to overcome unjust feelings of inferior looks because of that gap between their two front teeth. “In the Land of the Owl Turds” is a whimsical tale of a handsome but decidedly eccentric young man’s rocky quest for true love. Recommended.--K.T. Playing with two very nice short films by anthropologist-turned-film maker Pascal Aubier, whose eye is as keen as his humor. “The Apparition” concerns the perils of blind religious faith, while “The John” is about an auto plant worker who finds love in the unlikeliest place of all. (His other two films were not press-screened.) Recommended.