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TODAY AT AFI FESTIVAL

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<i> Compiled by Michael Wilmington</i>

Following are The Times’ recommendations for today’s schedule of the American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFIFEST), with commentary by the film reviewing staff. Information: (213) 480-3232 or (213) 520-2000.

Highly recommended:

“FUNNY FACE”(U.S.; Director: Stanley Donen; Cineplex Century Plaza 3, 8 p.m.). A restored print of the 1957 musical classic, a satire on fashion photography and Americans in Paris. The script is weak, but there are great songs by the Gershwin brothers, matchless hoofing by Fred Astaire, gamin smiles by Audrey Hepburn, photographs by Richard Avedon, deft, limber mise-en-scene by Stanley Donen. Through it all: the seemingly effortless elegance of the near-past, something we ought to try to recapture.

(Michael Wilmington)

“VIENNA IS DIFFERENT”(U.S.; D: Susan Korda, David Leitner. AFI Mark Goodson, 7 p.m.) Vienna celebrates 50 years of the Anschluss, simultaneously with the Waldheim controversy. Many-layered, mesmerizing, terrific stuff.(Sheila Benson)

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Recommended:

“ISLAND”(Australia; D: Paul Cox. Century Plaza 2, 7 p.m.) A beautifully shot but sometimes enervated drama about three women whose paths cross on a Greek isle; enlivened by Cox’ painterly landscapes and Irene Papas’ fiery performance. Critic’s Choice with the L. A. Weekly’s Ella Taylor. (M. W.)

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