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:

TUESDAY

“Vera” (Brazil, 1986, 3 p.m.). Vera, an 18-year-old orphan, ventures into society for the first time and decides she’s best suited to be a man. Assuming both the posture and dress for the role, the young woman causes shock waves at the staid library where she works. Writer-director Sergio Toledo offers a quiet authority to this subject that cannot be easily dismissed. However, the sheer outlandishnesses of the situation demands, at the very least, a note of humor or outrage that is sadly missed.