Writer/Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck take real-life events from 1980s Oakland and create a wild action crime comedy explosive cocktail of a genre film in Freaky Tales.
Here’s the short pitch for Freaky Tales;
Go. See. It. Now.
See this film on the biggest screen with the loudest sound, armed with the buttery-est popcorn and the biggest cup of coldest soda/pop you can. If you like genre films then you’re sure to love Freaky Tales – a film with overwrought mythology of fighting for what’s yours be it on the streets, on the stage, in your own home, or your family. Fight for it if your life depended on it.
Four tales of varying interconnection tell of a specific time in Oakland in 1987. Specifically, during the NBA Playoffs series the Golden State Warriors face the Los Angeles Lakers. One tale of Punks (Ji-young Yoo, Jack Champion, and Keir Gilchrist amongst others) protecting their turf against Neo Nazis. Another telling of a female rap duo (Normani and Dominique Thorne) getting their shot during a rap battle against Oakland legend Too Short. Yet, another tells of a criminal (Pedro Pascal) and what he does after tragedy strikes his family. The final tells the legend of Basketball star Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis) after scoring 50 points on the Lakers.
Freaky Tales mixes a cast that pulls from new to seasoned actors to real-life figures with smashing effect. In fact, the film may be the best casted film of the year when all is said and done. Not just because of the Star Performers Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, and Ben Mendelsohn all of who do excellent work. Ellis shines the brightest of the three stars and continues to show and prove he has been ready to carry his own films for a while now. It is also the younger cast that shines as well. Particularly, Ji-Young Yoo as the young Punk fighter and Normani as one half of the female rap duo. The entire cast from appearances by the real-life Sleepy Floyd and Too Short to a very specific Multiple-Academy Award Winning Actor who is from Oakland – are perfectly cast. More than the perfect casting each actor understands the tone of the film that Boden and Fleck are reaching for and helps the directing duo remain consistent.
Directors Boden and Fleck have created an anthology of four stories that tell of real-life events spun to such dizzyingly violent effect they become artistic equivalents of Reliefs – becoming Art, not Historical accounts. Done in a style that evokes both the culture of Oakland and of the 1980s. There is a quality to everything that feels authentic to not just the time/era but the city of Oakland and its specific citizens, locales, culture, sports, and issues. Rather than being myopic Freaky Tales is universal in its appeal and ability to entertain a mass audience.
In the end, as with all great art, it does not matter what is factual in Freaky Tales but what is true. Everything in Freaky Tales rings true from beginning to end.
Writer/Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck take real-life events from 1980s Oakland and create a wild action crime comedy explosive cocktail of a genre film in Freaky Tales.
Here’s the short pitch for Freaky Tales;
Go. See. It. Now.
See this film on the biggest screen with the loudest sound, armed with the buttery-est popcorn and the biggest cup of coldest soda/pop you can. If you like genre films then you’re sure to love Freaky Tales – a film with overwrought mythology of fighting for what’s yours be it on the streets, on the stage, in your own home, or your family. Fight for it if your life depended on it.
Four tales of varying interconnection tell of a specific time in Oakland in 1987. Specifically, during the NBA Playoffs series the Golden State Warriors face the Los Angeles Lakers. One tale of Punks (Ji-young Yoo, Jack Champion, and Keir Gilchrist amongst others) protecting their turf against Neo Nazis. Another telling of a female rap duo (Normani and Dominique Thorne) getting their shot during a rap battle against Oakland legend Too Short. Yet, another tells of a criminal (Pedro Pascal) and what he does after tragedy strikes his family. The final tells the legend of Basketball star Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis) after scoring 50 points on the Lakers.
Freaky Tales mixes a cast that pulls from new to seasoned actors to real-life figures with smashing effect. In fact, the film may be the best casted film of the year when all is said and done. Not just because of the Star Performers Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, and Ben Mendelsohn all of who do excellent work. Ellis shines the brightest of the three stars and continues to show and prove he has been ready to carry his own films for a while now. It is also the younger cast that shines as well. Particularly, Ji-Young Yoo as the young Punk fighter and Normani as one half of the female rap duo. The entire cast from appearances by the real-life Sleepy Floyd and Too Short to a very specific Multiple-Academy Award Winning Actor who is from Oakland – are perfectly cast. More than the perfect casting each actor understands the tone of the film that Boden and Fleck are reaching for and helps the directing duo remain consistent.
Directors Boden and Fleck have created an anthology of four stories that tell of real-life events spun to such dizzyingly violent effect they become artistic equivalents of Reliefs – becoming Art, not Historical accounts. Done in a style that evokes both the culture of Oakland and of the 1980s. There is a quality to everything that feels authentic to not just the time/era but the city of Oakland and its specific citizens, locales, culture, sports, and issues. Rather than being myopic Freaky Tales is universal in its appeal and ability to entertain a mass audience.
In the end, as with all great art, it does not matter what is factual in Freaky Tales but what is true. Everything in Freaky Tales rings true from beginning to end.
Freaky Tales is in theaters April 4th
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