Claire Denis

Legendary director Yasujiro Ozu's rigorously spare style was often marked by long, slow takes -- the camera set at the eye level of a person sitting on the tatami matting that cover the floors of a traditional Japanese home. With so little camera movement, the rare pan shot became a uniquely expressive event. His films remain tremendously evocative, with a flourish of superbly composed images introducing key scenes.

It was hard to believe that a world-class film festival could emerge from the behind-the-scenes shambles that was Cannes just two nights ago. But old hands only laughed at what seemed to be major demolition still in progress backstage, and predicted that by Wednesday night at 7:30 the annual Cannes miracle would take place.

For almost 15 years, Abdullah Ibrahim lived in New York, in exile from his home, Cape Town, South Africa. But in his heart--and his music--he never left at all. From his 1965 album "Anatomy of a South African Village" to 1995's "Yarona," Ibrahim's music has been a voice for blacks who were voiceless under apartheid. In his playing and compositions, he brought jazz back to its African roots, fusing the two into a distinctive style.

The last major festival on the circuit, the New York Film Festival is a fascinating anomaly. With dogged, bare-knuckled contrariness--defying an era of bigger-is-better, celebrities-are-gods and cozy studio bedfellows--it caps its lineup at 30 films; this year, only 26 will be shown during the 16-day event that opens today. And unlike, say, Venice or Cannes, the New York Film Festival doesn't give out prizes and is adamantly noncompetitive.

"There's a sort of contract you enter into with someone, a sort of unspoken contract that's formed in the beginning under the circumstances in which a relationship starts," says Austin Chick, writer and director of "XX/XY," a reflective film about the nature of love in the time of confusion. That is, in these our modern times. "And that can affect the relationship for a really long time."

June 6 The Eye Thriller Palm With: Lee Sin-je, Lawrence Chou, Chutcha Rujinanon, Candy Lo. The idea: Corneal transplant has interesting side effects, including clairvoyance and foresight. Writers: Oxide & Danny Pang, Jo Jo Hui Yuet Chun. Directors: The Pangs. So? Goose-bump city. Prozac Nation Drama Miramax With: Christina Ricci, Jessica Lange. The idea: Girl's bright promise is crushed by depression.

In the years since Harmony Korine, then 18, wrote the script for Larry Clark's controversial 1995 "Kids," he has directed two films himself, "Gummo" (1997) and "julien donkey-boy," which opened Friday at the Sunset 5. In that time he's been the subject of considerable ink, both as a chronicler of life on the brutal edges of American society and as a put-on artist with the press.

Artist Doug Aitken is doing everything he can to liberate the 21st century message of his new book from the relatively staid confines of a Gutenberg-era medium. "Broken Screen" -- subtitled "26 Conversations With Doug Aitken: Expanding the Image, Breaking the Narrative" -- is, after all, a group portrait of unruly creative mavericks disinterested in traditional narrative forms.

The Midnight Special Bookstore (1318 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica) presents Saturday its bimonthly "Documental," two different programs of recent films and videos. The 7 p.m. program concerns a changing India, and the 9 p.m. program observes the contemporary art scene, and both are outstanding.