Mixing mystery, adventure

Nabil AYOUCH’S “A Minute Less Sunshine” is as intriguing as its title, a stylish detective mystery/love story set in Morocco starring Nouraddin Orahhou as a lean, reflective police inspector. A powerful Fez drug lord has an errant nephew in Tangiers who is shot to death in the bathtub of his gaudy mansion. Orahhou investigates and becomes involved with one of the nephew’s employees, a beautiful woman (Lubna Azabal) with a lively but ailing little brother (Hicham Moussoune).

Tension and emotion develop simultaneously, and the film is enlivened by the presence of the inspector’s unlikely but resilient and loyal pal, a good-hearted drag queen belly dancer (Noor). This assured, sophisticated and beautifully realized film will surely rank among the best offerings in the Pan African Film Festival.

Also screening in the festival, which begins tonight and runs through Feb. 16, is S. Pierre Yameogo’s droll, leisurely “Me and My White Friend,” in which Mamadi (Serge Bayala), a hard-pressed doctoral candidate in Paris from Burkina Faso, and his pal Frankie (Pierre-Loup Rajot) come upon a bag full of drugs and cash. What they believe will be their salvation unfortunately backfires, propelling them to Burkina Faso.

Yameogo first takes a wry, detached look at the plight of Africans in France -- and then exposes the corruption and oppression the citizens of Burkina Faso endure. Somehow Yameogo manages to hold on to his sense of humor and avoid bitterness, suggesting that his people are survivors.

With friends like Steve (Leon Herbert) and Jane (Jacqueline de Peza), John (Wil Johnson) and Mary (Daniela Lavender) need no enemies. In Herbert’s acidic “Emotional Backgammon,” Mary tells John, who is eager to marry her, that she needs some space. John reacts badly, which makes him vulnerable to Steve’s advice, which means treating women as if he were engaged in a no-holds-barred game. Mary, in turn, takes refuge with the manipulative Jane, whose bitterness toward men may even exceed Steve’s bitterness toward women.

The whole question becomes whether or not John and Mary will ever tell their “friends” to get lost and work out things themselves. When their moment of truth arrives, the focus shifts to Steve and Jane, who are so screwed up and downright evil it’s asking too much for anyone to care about what happens to them. With posh London settings, “Emotional Backgammon” is sleek-looking and has impassioned performances, but it’s both off-putting and painfully obvious.

Expressive documentaries

REDCAT’s “Les Nouveaux Cinemas,” a five-day selection of works from this Montreal festival, opens tonight with Moslem Mansouri’s poignant 41-minute documentary “Trial.” In the 1980s, Ali Malini, a brick maker like all the men in his village outside Tehran, but also an intellectual, started writing and producing books for his neighbors. Then the neighbors formed a film collective, turning out 18 shorts for their own edification.

Even though the films were not intended for commercial release, Malini was jailed for not having received permission to make them. He spent three months in solitary confinement, finally released on the condition that he never make another film. Mansouri, now in exile, nevertheless persuaded Malini to make one more film with those neighbors willing to participate so that he could document this most creative process, which let the community tell stories that reflected its experiences. By implication, “Trial” is a wrenching indictment of the suppression of the freedom of expression.

Maziar Bahari’s chilling 53-minute documentary “And Along Came a Spider” screens Saturday at REDCAT following “The Ladies” (a 55-minute documentary about how a Tehran park restroom has become a temporary refuge for women of all walks of life). “Spider” centers on an interview with Muslim fundamentalist Saeed Hanaei. Enraged by a taxi driver’s mistaking his wife for a prostitute, he went on a killing spree, methodically murdering 16 prostitutes -- a deed for which he, his wife and especially his young son are immensely proud. Bahari deftly connects the horrendous plight of prostitutes in Iran to the larger issue of oppression of all Iranian women. Also screening on Monday is noted director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s “Our Times,” a documentary on Iran’s 2001 parliamentary elections, focusing on women running for office, including Arezoo Bayat, a 25-year-old twice-divorced woman who actually ran for president.

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Screenings

Pan African Film Festival

“Me and My White Friend”: Saturday at 7:40 p.m. and Sunday at 1:40 p.m.

“A Minute Less Sunshine”:

Friday at 10 p.m. and Wednesday at 9 p.m.

“Emotional Backgammon”: Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Feb. 14 at 8:20 p.m.

Where: Magic Johnson Theatre 15, 4020 Marlton Ave., Los Angeles

Info: (323) 295-1706

Les Nouveaux Cinemas

“Trial”: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.

“The Ladies” and “And Along Came a Spider”: Saturday,

7:30 p.m.

“Les Yeux Secs” and “Our Times”: Monday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: REDCAT Theatre,

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles

Info: (213) 237-2800