Freaky Tales finds twisted justice

A warped postcard to the city of Oakland, Freaky Tales celebrates its location more like a love letter from a psycho. This suits directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck just fine, focusing on several adventures of underdogs in a city that plays a similar status to its neighbor San Francisco. The writers go back to 1987 and imagine a series of events affected by a strange green glow that emanates from a group of underdogs who need help dealing with racism, misogyny, and a few other bad traits. This negates any quote “turn the other cheek” approach; comeuppance occurs with Quentin Tarantino style glee, sabers flashing and crude words flowing. No problem for many including a few former Oakland residents who join the mix like Golden State Warriors basketball legend “Sleepy” Floyd, rapper Too $hort, and a video store clerk named Hank. It turns out he looks just like an older version of a guy referred to in the script as a local boy making good in movies like The Money Pit (no one knew about Forrest Gump back in 1987). Mandalorian Pedro Pascal shows up in the film’s most cohesive segment playing an enforcer hoping to quit his business. Pascal’s professional gloss rises above other, younger performers, and like many anthology films, not every tale works with equal effectiveness. As the title implies, the stories go off on strange tangents, appealing for those who want justice at any cost, twisted or not.