‘Black Is’ Is Riggs’ Final Testament

Among the films screening in the UCLA Film Archives’ “Cinematic Images of the Black Male” at Melnitz Theater through Tuesday is the late documentarian Marlon Riggs’ altogether remarkable 86-minute “Black Is . . . Black Ain’t” (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.).

It is a final testament from an important, groundbreaking filmmaker dying of AIDS. Riggs--who died in April, 1994, at 36--attempts a definition of blackness as broad as possible as a way to plead for inclusiveness among African Americans, calling for a banishment of divisive distinctions based on skin color, class, gender, sexual orientation and religion.

It is a wide-ranging work celebrating diversity and filled with warmth and humor, in which Riggs sought the views of many people, famous and otherwise. It is also a loving chronicle of Riggs’ family, rooted in Louisiana, and a harrowing diary of his day-to-day battle against AIDS.

As in previous Riggs’ films, most notably the controversial “Tongues Untied,” “Black Is . . . Black Ain’t” is gracefully structured, incorporating performance arts, especially dance--Bill T. Jones performs--as punctuation.

Information: (310) 206-FILM.

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Talk Radio: Darko Bajic’s impassioned, terrific “Black Bomber” (Fridays at midnight at the Nuart) envisions Belgrade in 1999 in the grip of a totalitarian dictator, who is a key target of a fearless underground radio-deejay/talk-show host known as Blackie (Dragan Bjelogrlic), finally reduced to broadcasting from a van--hence the film’s title.

The handsome, reckless Blackie is also caught up in a tempestuous romance with Luna (Anica Dobra), a fiery, beautiful rock singer whose songs are as critical as Blackie’s broadcasts.

Written by Aleksander Barisic, “Black Bomber” is an exciting movie, charged with driving rock music and dynamic portrayals, but its length (116 minutes) and seriousness make it unusually challenging for a midnight slot.

Information: (310) 478-6379.

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Eye on America: Jon Jost’s 91-minute “Frameup” will screen at the Sunset 5 Fridays and Saturdays at midnight and Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m., while his 116-minute “The Bed You Sleep In” will screen Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. only.

The first is a wondrously deadpan sendup of the overly romanticized lovers-on-the-run genre, staged as a highly stylized passion play while ranging over a fair piece of the Pacific Northwest--not to mention some flavorsome Roadside Americana. As a sexy, born-to-lose ex-con and an airhead waitress, Howard Swain and Nancy Carlin couldn’t be better.

The second also expresses the uncompromising, acutely observant Jost’s dark vision of America. In a confluence between a betrayal of self and others and the betrayal of the American Dream itself, an impressive Tom Blair stars as a struggling small-town Oregon lumber mill owner whose professional and personal problems link to evoke a profound sense of a loss of control over one’s destiny.

Information: (213) 848-3500.

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Riding the Rails: The Monica 4-Plex has added to its Friday and Saturday midnight lineup Chang Mein Chun’s ‘70s-vintage, 90-minute “Peking Express,” a fast-moving train thriller set in 1929.

Russian, Chinese and Japanese agents vie for a satchel containing the skull of Peking Man being transported to Peking; it’s so lively that it doesn’t much matter that it’s tough to tell the good guys from the bad guys. But once off the train the film loses momentum and its climactic combat scene seems protracted. Be warned of glaring anachronisms and primitive dubbed English.

Information: (310) 394-9741.