AFI FILM FESTIVAL : Director’s Cut of ‘Pomegranates’ Set for Premiere

These are The Times’ recommendations for today’s schedule of the American Film Institute International Film Festival, with commentary by the film-reviewing staff. All screenings are at Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd St. Information: (213) 466-1767.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

“PAST AND PRESENT”(Portugal, 1971; Manoel de Oliveira; 1 & 6:15 p.m.). The sexual pathologies of the Portuguese upper class provide De Oliveira with a subject that might have delighted Bunuel: A twice-married socialite, who despises her present living husband and worships the one who died, magically sees the living and dead switch positions; her own emotions change accordingly. This elegant, cold-eyed comedy is set in gardens, salons and boudoirs, where frosty manners conceal intense cruelty. It’s the most cynical of his later films: a portrayal of insane selfishness with an exemplary, scathingly witty ensemble. (Michael Wilmington)

“MY SONS”(Japan, Yoji Yamada, 1:30 & 6:45 p.m.). In between his smash hit “Tora-san” series, writer-director Yamada makes highly personal films, which give greater range to his longing for a rural past and his sense of the transitory nature of life. This one portrays an aging, widowed farmer (Rentaro Mikuni), determined to stay on in his remote homestead, and his youngest son (Masatoshi Nagase of “Mystery Train”), struggling to make a life for himself in Tokyo. Yamada began as an assistant to Yasujiro Ozu; this deeply felt film strongly recalls Ozu’s masterpiece “Tokyo Story.” (Kevin Thomas)

“THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES”(Sergei Paradjanov; Armenia; 1:45 & 7 p.m.). The world premiere of the director’s cut of Paradjanov’s 1969 work is another of the late filmmaker’s surreal, visionary tableaux pictures, this time illuminating the spiritual odyssey of Armenian poet Sayat Noya. A film of awe-inspiring beauty, suffused with Paradjanov’s love of stylized ritual and his exquisite sense of composition. (K. T.). (Wilmington concurs: “One of the neglected masterpieces of Soviet cinema. Ripe, lush, dazzling and unique: on a level with the best of Dovzhenko or Tarkovsky.”) CRITIC’S CHOICE: A discussion with The Times’ Michael Wilmington.

“THE 400 BLOWS”(France, 1959; Francois Truffaut; 4 & 9:15 p.m.). Here is where both the saga of Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud) and the film career of Truffaut began. For some, it remained the high point of both: a semi-autobiographical study of an abandoned delinquent boy on the Parisian streets--an alert child, dashing through the sadness of his life with the killing speed of youth. The picture is a study of alienation, done with paradoxical buoyancy and energy. It remains one of the most loved films of the “Nouvelle Vague.” (M. W.) (Thomas concurs: “. . . One of the cornerstones of France’s New Wave.”)

Recommended:

“CITY OF THE BLIND”(Mexico; Albert Cortes; 8:45 p.m.). In this film, we eavesdrop on the 10 different sets of tenants who occupy an apartment in a Mexico City high-rise over a 30-year period. Cortes seems most interested in the inhabitants’ sex lives; references to the world outside escape the subtitles. Fairly elusive--there’s no exposition whatsoever--but also erotic and intriguing. (K. T.)

Others: “Claude” (USA; Cindy Lou Johnson; 1:15 & 6:30 p.m.). Exceedingly thin and tiresome whimsy about a landscape architect whose life is unraveled . . . by “Veronique’s” Irene Jacob. (K. T.) “Lost Paradise” (Armenia; Davit Sarafian; 4:15 & 9:30 p.m.). Scenically lovely, but uninvolving tale of rural Armenians forced from their mountain village by “progress.” (M. W.)