A World of Film and Art Diversity

The seventh annual Pan African Film & Art Festival opens today at the Magic Johnson Theaters, where it will present more than 70 features, documentaries and shorts, some of them worthy revivals, through Feb. 15.

As has been the case from its inception, this year’s festival showcases outstanding, enriching and diverse films from around the world. Typical of its diversity are its two opening-night features, Mweze Dieudonne Ngangura’s “Pieces d’identities” (also released as “Tattered Identities,”) a rueful, distinctive comedy dealing with the ambiguous and contradictory legacy of colonialism for Belgium and Zaire, and Mike Sargent’s “Personals,” a romantic comedy starring Malik Yoba as a New York journalist who has more difficulties with commitments, both professional and emotional, than he would like to admit. Both films screen at 7:30 p.m., with “Pieces d’identities” repeating Feb. 15 at 2:30 p.m.

Gerard Essomba stars in “Pieces d’identites” as Mani Kongo, a tribal ruler who goes to Brussels to find the daughter he lost track of long ago. Kongo is a sweet-natured and naive older man, and his adventures in Belgium--as well as the predicaments of those whose paths he crosses--reveal much lingering racism on the part of many, though by no means all, Belgians. Intricately structured, the film reflects considerable wit, skill and insightful compassion. Ngangura adeptly handles shifting moods and tones, for his film is at once funny and serious.

Star of the TV series “New York Undercover,” Malik Yoba is perfectly cast in “Personals” as Keith Parker, a Manhattan journalist whose good looks and charisma allow him to live the life of a playboy--to such an extent that he loses his prestigious, well-paying job. His chance at a comeback lies in writing a freelance article on women who advertise for dates, but he winds up learning more about himself than he does the women, well-played by an array of talented actresses (and one actor, playing a drag queen). Key among them is gorgeous and poised Stacey Dash, as a writer with her own project. Sargent’s script gets a little talky at times, but “Personals” is both entertaining and provocative.

In 1996 writer-producer-director Angel Muniz brought to the big screen a beloved telenovela character, comedian Luisito Marti’s Orodote Balbuena, a hard-working widower from the Dominican Republic now living in Manhattan. That endearing little picture was called “Nueba Yol,” slang for New York, and the kindly Balbuena is back in “Nueba Yol 3”--there is no “2,” don’t ask. Here, Balbuena is coping with the government’s draconian new immigration laws and finds himself needing to marry to avoid deportation. As before, Muniz offsets some harsh realities--real eye-openers for those who take their U.S. citizenship for granted--with an abundance of humor and sentiment. “Nueba Yol 3” screens Sunday at 11:15 a.m. and Feb. 13 at 4:20 p.m.

“Drylongso” (at 8:05 p.m. Monday and Feb. 16) is an old African American term for “ordinary,” but there’s nothing ordinary about Toby Smith’s pretty and reflective Pica, the teenage heroine of Cauleen Smith’s endearing feature. As an Oakland photography student, Pica is rebellious but talented, determined to express herself in her own way, which means taking photos of African American males, which she views as an endangered species. “Drylongso” also explores a budding friendship between Pica and Tobi (April Barnett), a lovely but lonely rich girl in fear of a violent boyfriend. Smith even works in a thriller subplot, underlining the everyday dangers in Oakland’s black neighborhood, but her primary concern is Pica’s discovery of her own worth; Smith and Barnett are both gifted actresses.

Nadia Fares’ “Honey and Ashes” (Tuesday at 6:05 p.m.) gracefully links three stories of Tunisian women caught between past and present. Nozha Khouadra’s Leila, a beautiful student, faces a terrible fate for defying custom and following her heart; Samia Mzali’s Naima, an elegant 45-year-old doctor, admits to her college-age daughter that she lacked the courage to commit to a man she met in medical school in Moscow; and Amel Ledhili’s Amina dares to want out of a marriage gone sour. Through these stories, Fares reveals the terrible plight of women within a brutal patriarchal society.

Directed exquisitely by “Daughters of the Dust’s” Julie Dash, “Funny Valentines” (Wednesday at 8 p.m.), adapted from a short story by J. California Cooper, stars Alfre Woodard and Loretta Devine in luminous portrayals of devoted cousins. Fed up with her husband’s philandering, wealthy Manhattan matron Joyce (Woodard) takes off with her two daughters for a visit down South with her beloved cousin. Dearie B. (Devine) is a simple, joyous woman with whom Joyce shared a happy childhood until it was shattered by a traumatic incident that occurred when Joyce was 10. “Funny Valentines” celebrates the gifts of friendship, which enable Dearie B. to come to terms with the past as Joyce confronts her troubled present. This warm, rich film, which co-stars CCH Pounder and Tom Wright, from one of America’s most talented and distinctive filmmakers, is the first BET Movies/STARZ original production, airing on BET Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.

The Pan African Film & Art Festival includes an exhibition and sale of the work of some 100 black artists and craftspeople, and also will showcase music, poetry, fashion design and performance art. There also will be a series of seminars relating to art and filmmaking. Some events will be held in the adjacent Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. (213) 896-8221 or (323) 295-1706.

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The Nuart’s “A Tribute to Curtis Harrington,” which screens tonight only, is composed of two of his best pictures, “The Killing Kind” (1973) and “What’s the Matter with Helen?” (1971).

“The Killing Kind,” which Harrington will introduce at 7:30 p.m., is arguably his finest achievement. Working in the horror genre with consistent bravura, Harrington this time has been able to move further away from Grand Guignol and closer to all-out tragedy than ever before--but with no loss of his characteristically outrageous sense of the absurd. The result is a film as poignant as it is suspenseful, a film whose somber mood is effectively set off with inspired moments of comic relief. Written by Tony Crechales with Harrington’s usual producer, George Edwards, “The Killing Kind” is above all a fully realized portrait of mother love at its most disastrously suffocating.

Ann Sothern plays a frowzy, plump, once pretty and promiscuous woman who clings to her illegitimate son (John Savage) for strength and security, blissfully unaware of how destructive her possessiveness and jealousy have been to him. Sothern’s mother is alternately shrewd and stupid, vexing and pathetic, valiant and lazy, whiling away her time in front of her TV, gobbling popcorn and stroking her many cats. Savage, who’s most promising, has an angelic look and displays a different demeanor that belies his ability to express violent emotions terrifyingly well.

Harrington explores this cursed mother-son relationship with such sound psychological insight and compassion, not to mention discretion, that it is finally no more possible to hate the mother for making a monster of her son than it is to hate him for his monstrousness. Ultimately, “The Killing Kind” suggests powerfully how total innocence breeds total evil.

In horror films, the line between pathos and camp can be very thin--and the thinner that line, the more stunning the effect. With “Helen” (5:20 and 9:20 p.m.) Harrington, a specialist in the macabre, daringly goes right up to the brink of disaster but never slips over. The result is a very scary show that is also a poignant drama with a pair of knockout star performances from Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters--plus a loving (and often amusing) re-creation of the ‘30s.

Reynolds and Winters play women who are linked by tragedy and who flee a small Iowa town to begin a new life together in Los Angeles where they run a dance school. Adelle (Reynolds), once a chorine, will teach; Helen (Winters) will play the piano. At first, life on the fringes of Hollywood seems to be looking up for these two, who have already endured so much. Even though it’s the depth of the Depression--1934--their little school prospers because so many mothers see their daughters as the next Shirley Temple. What’s more, Adelle even lands a serious beau (Dennis Weaver, excellent as a smart hick with a suave veneer), a Texas millionaire.

But Helen, fervently religious and consumed with guilt, begins to go to pieces. Writer Henry Farrell (author of “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”) has made both Adelle and Helen three-dimensional, and Harrington has directed Reynolds and Winters with such sensitivity that their characters’ plight becomes truly tragic. (310) 478-6379.

Note: LACMA’s “Magnificent Meryl: The Mystique of Meryl Streep” begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a new 35mm print of “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) and “A Cry in the Dark” (1988). “The Best of Slamdance 99” screens Wednesday and Feb. 11, at the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian. (323) 466-FILM.