Going bonkers in the Bay: Boden and Fleck Tell ‘Freaky Tales’

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The writing/directing partnership of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck has to be one of the most curious cases of crazy connect-the-dots career moves in recent cinema. From short documentaries and safe-sex content for the Centers for Disease Control to television work, Boden and Fleck broke through in 2006 with the fantastic feature “Half Nelson,” adapted from their own Sundance prize-winner “Gowanus, Brooklyn.” “Half Nelson,” a captivating portrait of a troubled middle school teacher, snagged an Oscar nomination for actor Ryan Gosling. Underrated follow-up “Sugar” didn’t catch fire. But a couple movies later, Boden and Fleck took the helm of the MCU’s “Captain Marvel, “ which would gross more than a billion dollars.

A love letter to the Bay Area set during the second Reagan administration, “Freaky Tales” premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival before landing a wider release this April. Telling four separate stories that all intertwine and overlap, the new movie owes both structural and stylistic debts to Quentin Tarantino. “Freaky Tales” doesn’t manage to achieve the remarkable sense of tone that defines QT’s genre-hugging fireballs, but the raucous and giddy historical revisionism that fueled major plot points in “Inglourious Basterds” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” turns up in a wild reimagining of the night of the fourth game of the NBA’s 1987 Western Conference Semifinals between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In a huge swing for the fences, the filmmakers turn real-life Warriors guard Eric “Sleepy” Floyd (Jay Ellis) into a mystical swordsman prepared to avenge a horrific wrong committed against his family by Nazi biker gang thugs aligned with a corrupt and racist police officer known as “the Guy” (Ben Mendelsohn). Over-the-top mayhem echoes the Bride’s singlehanded battle versus the Crazy 88 in “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” with the added bonus of a rooting interest against the kind of intolerant xenophobes who seem to be affiliated these days with a particular slogan stitched on their red baseball caps. While this final segment is the movie’s clear showstopper, the preceding storylines make up a trio of tantalizing glimpses highlighting Oakland’s colorful character.

Superstar Pedro Pascal will attract the most attention as underworld enforcer Clint, toplining third story “Born to Mack,” a classic “one last job” tale. Unless you have instincts and skills on par with Wes Anderson, it’s surely a risk to cast a big name in a small(er) role, but anthology-style moviemaking’s all-for-one spirit brings together A-listers and lesser-known performers. Bay Area kid and Skyline High graduate Tom Hanks, for example, pops up as a grouchy video store proprietor. Additional bona fides come courtesy of Too Short, whose narration guides viewers from story to story. He also portrays Mendelsohn’s work partner and in turn is played as his younger self by DeMario “Symba” Driver in “Don’t Fight the Feeling.”

That second story depicts elements of Too Short’s breakthrough hit, the epic track for which the movie is titled. Its over-the-top braggadocio lays out a pimping parody that was embraced by listeners entertained perhaps a bit too easily by the sexually explicit misogyny, and Boden and Fleck manage to rewire some of the boys club dominance with characters Entice (Normani) and Barbie (Dominique Thorne), who can go toe to toe with the fellas. My own favorite tale, however, is the inaugural account of punks versus skinheads at the Berkeley venue popularly known as the Gilman. Smoothly mixing the political and the personal, the directors build enough interest around the adventures of Ji-young Yoo’s Tina to keep viewers hooked.