Oakland of the 1980s is the setting, character, and central plotting device of the narratively aloof but stylishly assured Freaky Tales. There are several ideas for a movie here and while they do not coalesce, they do form an antifascist anthology with a sense of place and a few intersecting stories.
What’s most evident about Freaky Tales is that it’s a passion project for often-collaborative directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden and they’ve really brought their ensemble into their fun vision of period piece Oakland.
Each of the four interconnected segment has a glimmer of promise on its own while Too Short wraps the stories around as the narrator. These tales are based loosely on four true stories but they play as stylized and simple cinematic constructions in the movie, not necessarily navigating the overarching story to any broader truths.
The ensemble is lead by Pedro Pascal who is dependable and ought to be in anything he wants. The cast mostly works around Pascal’s good performance and seems to have fun. The audience gets in on only some of the fun themselves, as the narrative threading is too loose to buy into the stakes of anything moment-to-moment.
Mostly Freaky Tales is resonant at an aesthetic level. It presents 1987 Oakland as a rich tapestry, its soundtrack, set and outfit design especially selling the period specificity. Because that all works at a cosmetic level, it feels like something of a missed opportunity that the rest just doesn’t pull together. Still, it’s a fun enough audiovisually compelling ride, which feels like it could almost work better told in series. Like many anthologies, the stories here are uneven, and when they do interconnect, do not especially elevate or draw depth into the range of subjects. For anyone with their heart in Oakland, this movie will match their energy, and for some, that will just be enough.