‘Freaky Tales’ Review: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Deliver An Epic Sampling of Violence and Victory in a Supercharged Oakland | Sundance 2024

It’s 1987 in Oakland. Friends emerge from the movie theater discussing what they just saw and are immediately confronted by whistles and insults from a passing truck of neo-Nazis. Advertisements for a mysterious “mind-awake” seminar dominate the airwaves and a powerful green electricity crackles like lightning in the sky. Fortunately, whatever that supernatural spirit is lands mostly on the side of the good guys in four interconnected stories brought to wickedly entertaining life by writer-director duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

For its fantastical chapters, Freaky Tales takes some inspiration from real-life characters, incorporating real-life rapper Too Short and famed basketball player Sleepy Floyd into its narrative. But those small doses of reality disappear within the wild concoctions of confrontation and chaos that fill each part. This Oakland is a city dominated by white supremacists and police corruption, and it’s hard to avoid being touched by it. These four tales are about people who encounter violence and hatred and choose not to simply lie down and take it. That does, necessarily, include more bloodshed, and as one man who always upholds his venue’s rules of non-discrimination and non-violence acknowledges, those rules don’t apply when you’re dealing with Nazis.

Each of the vignettes has a strong establishing introduction and then follows a worthwhile trajectory that ups the stakes and intensifies as it goes. A group of friends seeking to protect their haven for acceptance opts to fight back against the skinheads who routinely terrorize them, inflicting serious casualties as they utilize brutal weapons to make their stand. Two best friends enter a rap battle with a condescending misogynist, unsure of whether the crowd will be on their side or if they’re being set up for humiliation. An enforcer enters a video store to fulfill one last assignment while his pregnant wife and a new life await him in the car. A fateful basketball game leaves its players’ homes unoccupied and ripe for burglary, with unintended and irreversible consequences from one botched job.

It’s rare to find a film split into chapters where each segment is equally strong, but that’s the case here. Even if a rap battle might not theoretically command the same gravitas as a fight against racism or a chronicle of revenge, they’re each made with a distinct attention to detail and a commitment to character. The costumes evoke the era and incorporate elements like weapons fashioned as jewelry and musical group names, and each large space where chaos ensues feels dark, endless, and full of volatility. Animations enhance the larger-than-life nature of the stories, beginning with two friends nursing each other’s wounds whose dreams are sketched in front of them to be visualized for the audience.

There are inherent elements of comedy to be found in this story of acceptance versus hatred, and the violence, however vicious, also comes with its own degree of humor. The sheer excess of bright-red blood that spurts from all orifices when the neo-Nazis are hit by blades and knives makes it feel like a sport, as if some joy should be found in reclaiming autonomy and dominance. In a world where baseless hate exists, fighting back against that cruelty is deemed to be acceptable. But this also isn’t a movie about morals, and instead one that invites audiences to come along for a vicarious ride where people are most definitely going to get hurt, and many of them probably deserve it.

This is an interesting new direction for Boden and Fleck, who have been working together for two decades, first on short films before their breakthrough Half Nelson. This film couldn’t be more different from their most recent cinematic collaboration, Captain Marvel, but it’s a delight to see that their work together on any subject is creative and worth watching. They also reunite with actor Ben Mendelsohn, who appeared in Captain Marvel and their underrated 2015 Sundance selection Mississippi Grind, and he gets a fantastic role here that allows him to practically ooze sleaziness. The way he orders his ice cream moments after he first appears tells you all you need to know about him: he’s a man who enjoys talking down to others and exerting his perceived superiority. In a film like this, audiences are rooting for him to meet a particularly grisly demise.

Four chapters means a large ensemble, especially when it comes to fight and crowd scenes. From the many performers featured, there are several memorable standouts. Ji-young Yoo, soon to be seen opposite Nicole Kidman in Prime Video’s Expats, brings a fabulous ferocity to her portrayal of one of the edgier members of the anti-Nazi crew. Dominique Thorne and Normani showcase understandable nervousness before rallying to deliver an unforgettable on-stage response to their rap battle opponent. Pedro Pascal is fully in his element as a clearly good man in a questionably good profession, able to distinguish this character from other similar roles he’s played recently. And, not content with always playing the nicest guy in the world, it’s a pleasure to see Tom Hanks challenging himself with new opportunities like the underdog-obsessed movie store employee who is determined to enhance Pascal’s character’s experience.

Freaky Tales, which borrows its title from one of Too Short’s songs, may not be the most accurate for this feature since they’re violent but not especially scary, and most moments are likelier to attract cheers from the audiences rather than jumps. Whatever this film is, it has style, and knows how to pivot to make every scene more worthwhile. At one point in the fourth and final segment, the narrator explains, what happened next has been highly debated over the years; this is the truth as we know it to be. What this film is doesn’t matter nearly as much as how it’s told, and that’s done with exceptional and unique style that makes this one of the most enthralling and memorable cinematic experiences of the year.

Grade: A-

Freaky Tales is playing in the Premieres section at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.