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

“All-American High” (U.S.A., 1986, Barnsdall, 6 p.m.). Film maker Keva Rosenfeld’s idea of looking at the curriculum and the dating habits of a specific high school, Torrance, in 1984 through the eyes of a Finnish exchange student resulted in this jaw-dropping and achingly funny slice of teen-age life. Classes in “Survival of Singles,” complete with mock marriages and training for the inevitable divorce; a look at the entrepreneurship of party-giving, school dances held at the mall (fer sure, why not?) are all part of this very crazy quilt. Selectively slanted, to be sure, but frighteningly real, too. Recommended.--S.B. Shown with “Stephanie: Five Years Later” (U.S.A., 1986). You’d almost think that Peggy Stern’s documentary on a high school senior was the basis for John Hughes’ “Pretty in Pink.” Stephanie also lives with her divorced father and aspires to a career in fashion design. However, unlike her filmic alter ego, she is scholastically unmotivated and cruelly earmarked for failure by the system. The juxtaposition of footage from an earlier documentary showing a vibrant Stephanie brings home the full tragedy. Recommended.