Freaky Tales is a fun, Pulp Fiction-esque ride through late 1987 featuring interesting characters, ties to historical events, and an out-of-this-world cast. But my problem is that writers/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck go to considerable lengths to give us a setup that includes a mysterious green glow that never gets explained. Instead, we only see how it has affected the citizens of Oakland, California, during a time of personal upheaval for their characters. All that aside, Freaky Tales is still a cranking romp, zigzagging through disparate lives and tying them all together with surgical cleverness and wit.
The green glow that our narrator (Too $hort, who also appears as another character) talks about in the film’s opening seems to have turned Oakland on its ear, and Freaky Tales is here to tell you four stories of what the population seems to be struggling with. Each story is rooted in an underdog battle one must overcome, from innocuous endeavors to righting wrongs with vicious, deadly intensity and intent. It’s obvious that Boden and Fleck are having a ball while matching relatable people with wildly exaggerated situations, and it’s hard not to like what they’ve got in store for you.
Like I said, it’s 1987, and nothing seems right in this part of America. Teenagers have to deal with Neo-Nazis rolling around in their pickup trucks, looking for another head to crack. National celebrity and hometown-boy-done-good Too $hort (DeMario Symba Driver) is looking for an act to share the stage with him, and two ice cream store workers think they’ve got what it takes. A mob enforcer has just been told his pregnant wife is dead after witnessing her being shot. Finally, a legendary basketball player might just have the night of his life on the court… if it weren’t for what’s happening at his home.
Each story incorporates the aforementioned green glow somehow–whether it’s used as a weapon, a source of strength, or a Force-like (yes, that’s capital-F Force) energy. But Boden and Fleck don’t just rely on that thread to string everyone together; they cunningly lay in little appearances that eventually stack up and lead to fitting, yet unbelievable outcomes. Not “unbelievable” in a bad way–we already know that this movie’s working in some kind of alternate reality, so that just leaves the rest to be enjoyed. We’re not meant to know what the green glow is; all we know is that it’s here, and it’s gonna get used.
There’s not a single hero you won’t want to fall in love with by the time the movie’s over. Our teens, led by Lucid (Jack Champion) and Tina (Ji-young Yoo), are good souls who stick up for those around them with middle fingers and spiked wrist gauntlets. Danger Zone–a duo consisting of best friends Barbie (Dominique Thorne) and Entice (Normani)–might seem like women who puff themselves up to front more than they might need to, but they’ve got the stuff to back it up. (Thorne positively kills it as Barbie.) Pedro Pascal puts forth a solemn, nuanced performance as Clint, a tough guy with a conscience, a past, and–hopefully–a future. And rounding out our good guy pack is Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis), based on a real-life basketball star whose capacity for domination doesn’t just stay on the court.
These interwoven stories and characters provide a thick bedrock for Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Freaky Tales. Everyone’s fighting something larger than themselves, a theme so thoroughly expounded upon by nerdy video store clerk Hank (Tom Hanks), whose treatises on the top five underdog movies solidly encapsulate what we’re watching. This flick flies fast and loose, going around corners we don’t expect and seating fully us in the weird, knowing damn well that we’re being taken down the backroads of the mind not often explored. And when a specific character’s mind gets unleashed in the final story, that’s when Freaky Tales earns its moniker and resolves everything you’d hope to be resolved… except maybe the green glow. But I think that’s another tale for another time.
