Seasoned D.C. moviegoers remember when Filmfest DC, could be depended on for a surprise or two. The highlights may vary, but this was a festival that—in its heyday some 30 years ago—was the only place one could see works such as the Hanif Kureishi miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia (1993) or Mani Ratnam’s dazzling musical Dil Se.. (1998). In 1989, a screening of Guy Maddin’s 1988 Tales from the Gimli Hospital from on the University of the District of Columbia campus left the audience in a daze—it was one of those films that made you walk out into the world looking at it a little differently. 

But for years, the festival has seemed to be in a holding pattern, not looking for fresh visions of the world but squeezing middling programs into tired themes like the ongoing series called Trust No One. One may be more likely to find challenging and entertaining films at one of the area’s commercial art-house theaters—in recent weeks E Street Cinemas has hosted Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s three-hour drama About Dry Grasses and Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi romance The Beast, which is becoming everybody’s favorite envelope-pushing narrative of the year. 

One wouldn’t blame film buffs for shrugging off Filmfest, figuring that anything worth seeing will end up at E Street or AFI Silver. Yet, now in its 38th year, the festival, while loaded with crowd-pleasers slated for a commercial run, is more promising than usual. Starting on April 18 and running for 10 days, Filmfest 2024 features the latest from an octogenarian master (87-year-old Ken Loach) and a new one from a younger filmmaker on a hot streak (Ryusuke Hamaguchi). And Filmfest continues, as always, to be a showcase for local filmmakers: This year’s screenings include Chris McDonald’s go-go documentary Bring the Beat (showing April 21 at the Kennedy Center and April 27 at E Street), Freedom Hair by D.C. native Dianne Houston (April 27 at E Street), and Reston native Amy Gerber’s Hope of Escape (April 27 at E Street).

With 62 films from 36 countries, you’d have to be a curmudgeon to find nothing worth your time. City Paper previewed a small cross section of this year’s lineup, and the films range from good to great, with at least one film that may bear repeated viewings.

Diabolik

The Italian equivalent of a Batman reboot, this 2021 actioner is the first entry in a trilogy that revived a popular ’60s comic-book character. American audiences may know the masked thief from Mario Bava’s 1968 cult classic Danger: Diabolik, and the Manetti brothers, Antonio and Marco, have stylish shoes to fill. Though set in the ’60s, and shot among what appears to be the same brutalist office buildings that gave the 1968 film its distinct mid-century aesthetic, this Diabolik simply doesn’t have the pop art energy of 1968. It’s also missing the pizazz of Ennio Morricone’s agitated avant-garde surf music. But Luca Marinelli is effective enough as the burglar of a thousand faces (the festival notes erroneously identify him as Grey’s Anatomy star Giacomo Gianniotti, who replaced Marinelli in the sequels), and if the chase scenes start off sleepily, the action is eventually broken down into split-screen compositions that better evoke the pulpy source. Diabolik screens at 6:05 p.m. on April 19 and 5:50 p.m on April 27 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema. $14.

Evil Does Not Exist 

In a remote mountain village outside of Tokyo, local townspeople worry about their way of life when a big city outfit proposes to construct a glamping site in the middle of their pristine wilderness. One would not think a public hearing that pivots on the placement of a septic tank would be the basis for compelling drama. But Hamaguchi, the director who broke out with the Oscar-nominated Drive My Car, seems capable of finding the human element in any circumstance. Though seemingly slighter than his other films, which can run three or even five hours long, Evil Does Not Exist (spoiler: it does) packs a lot of living into its patient 106 minutes. Evil Does Not Exist screens at 6:15 p.m. on April 19 and 1:45 p.m. on April 27 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema. $14.  

The Old Oak

TJ (Dave Turner) runs the Old Oak pub in a former mining town in Northern England. The town’s residents struggle in the shadow of its former industrial glory, while its cheap real estate becomes a sanctuary for Syrian refugees. TJ tries to be helpful to the new residents, befriending Yara (Ebla Mari), a young Syrian photographer, but many of the old pub regulars are upset with the new arrangements, and tempers flare. At 87,  the director Loach (1969’s Kes, 1994’s Ladybird, Ladybird), an old Filmfest favorite, claims this will be his last film. His humanist touch is as fair and compassionate as ever, even through Paul Laverty’s occasionally preachy script. The neat resolution isn’t entirely convincing, but the heart of The Old Oak is in the right place. The Old Oak screens at 8:50 p.m. on April 20 and 5 p.m. on April 21 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema. $14.

A Normal Family

This domestic drama from South Korea revolves around the aftermath of a road rage incident that fuels the rivalry between two brothers—a doctor who has dedicated his life to healing and a defense lawyer who helps rich clients get away with murder. But the brothers’ moral compasses get upset when their children find themselves in serious trouble—a crime that’s caught on a video that goes viral. If the plot sounds familiar, that’s because it was adapted from the Herman Koch novel that formed the basis for Oren Moverman’s 2017 film The Dinner. And although director Hur Jin–ho’s A Normal Family isn’t without speechifying, it’s far more subtle and accomplished than Moverman’s film. A Normal Family screens at 8 p.m. on April 26 and 4 p.m. on April 27 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema. $14.

The Undertaker 

Paul McGann (Withnail & I and Doctor Who) stars as Arthur, a mild-mannered mortician who becomes useful to an increasingly unhinged local gangster, Finlay (Roger Barclay). Director Michael Wright sets this slight crime drama in 1960s England, which lends itself to a muted color palette that suits the film’s meditation on death and morality. Despite the high body count and the morbid milieu, The Undertaker is, well, kind of cute; McGann’s restrained performance grounds a violent landscape that may well be an allegory of fascism, as the undertaker simply continues to follow orders, asking “What can I do about it?” The Undertaker, with appearances from Michael Wright, screens at 8:30 p.m. on April 26 and 6:15 p.m. on April 27 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema. $14.

Filmfest DC runs from April 18 to 28 at venues around town. filmfestdc.org