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:

WEDNESDAY

“Axiliad” (Poland, 1985, 12:30 p.m.). Portrayals of sensitive young artists--those who reject the world and seek out spiritual rediscovery among the simple people--contain automatic pitfalls of pretension and predictability, and Witold Leszczynski’s film of a poet among Polish lumberjacks doesn’t really avoid all of them. It also suffers from a questionably motivated downbeat climax. Yet there’s something about the film’s style that’s impressive: a consistently maintained austerity of tone and framing, and a beautifully articulated humility that also resonates from the face of lead actor Janek Pradera. They disarm you. Recommended.