TODAY AT AFI FESTIVAL : F<i> ollowing are The Times’ recommendations for today’s schedule of the American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival. Information: (213) 466-1767. </i> : Highly Recommended:

JURAJ JAKUBISKO TRIBUTE: “THE CRUCIAL YEARS”(Czechoslovakia, 1967; Music Hall; 7 p.m.). Jakubisko’s remarkable debut film, made at 27, is a prime example of Czechoslovakia’s fertile ‘60s New Wave period. He sets his voluptuous, painterly imagery--here monochrome and more sparely budgeted--whirling around a youthful triangle: light, giddy romance gradually moving toward darkness. Both sexy and thoughtful, it captures the tense interlude when youth becomes inexorably aware of age and mortality. (Michael Wilmington)

“NO, OR THE VAIN GLORY OF COMMAND”(Portugal; director Manoel de Oliveira; Music Hall; 9 p.m.). Has there ever been an octogenarian cineaste to match De Oliveira (81)? We know little of his work, despite numerous prizes throughout Europe--most of them won after he reached 60--yet this stately and beautiful pacifist parable whets the appetite. A Portuguese lieutenant recounts the foolishness and pomp of wars and colonialism throughout history, as his troops speed toward battle in Angola. (M.W.)

Recommended:

“MAGGIE MAY”/”THE PASSION OF MARTIN”(United States; Marika Menutis/ Alexander Payne; Monica; 9 p.m.). “Maggie” is an atmospheric featurette about life on the wild side--transvestites, seedy nightlife--in New Orleans. Payne’s “Martin,” one of the festival’s top American debuts, is an ironic study of paranoid romantic obsession, from the obsessive’s point of view. (M.W.)

“THE LONG CONVERSATION WITH A BIRD”(Poland; Krzysztof Zanussi; AFI Warner; 6:45 p.m.). Zanussi’s newest film is an inspiring display of TV-movie technique. Shot in Thailand in 16mm., it’s a delicate study of tangled eroticism among British-French artists and dilettantes. (M.W.)

“THE MOON IN THE MIRROR”(Chile; Silvio Caiozzi; Grande; 7 p.m.). A harrowingly poignant romance from director Caiozzi and novelist/screenwriter Jose Donoso. (M.W.)

Others: “Stormy Summer” (AFI Mark Goodson; 7 p.m.) A WWII Resistance era-romance, set among a politically fractured provincial family. (M.W.). “The Tigerman” (AFI Warner; 9 p.m.) The tragedy of an impoverished Indian tiger-dancer, his audience usurped by a real tiger. (M.W.)