Taking a one-for-us victory lap after one-for-them studio smash “Captain Marvel,” indie duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden blow an enormous, self-indulgent kiss to the late-’80s East Bay with “Freaky Tales.” Berkeley-born Fleck was all of 10 years previous in early 1987, when this nostalgia-fueled anthology movie is ready, which explains the wide-eyed approach he romanticizes the defining subcultures of the time (with Boden presumably doing her greatest to broaden the movie’s extremely particular, “you needed to be there“ enchantment).

In 4 distinct however intertwining chapters — populated principally with contemporary faces, plus grizzled-but-gorgeous Pedro Pascal — “Freaky Tales” melds wildly totally different sectors of town: There’s the rowdy-yet-respectful Gilman Road punk crowd; the revolutionary Oakland hip-hop scene (together with Too $hort, whose raunchy rap anthem provides the movie its title); the Warriors’ historic victory over the Lakers, wherein native basketball legend Eric “Sleepy” Jones scored a record-setting 29 factors within the final quarter; and a disturbing spike in Neo-Nazi-linked hate crimes, which unusually serves to tie every thing else collectively.

As if these disparate realms weren’t sufficient of a grab-bag, the co-directors additionally pack in scores of classic movie, trend and music references — essentially the most conspicuous being the “Repo Man”-like “cosmic inexperienced shit” seen glowing all through. That phosphorescent power represents no matter particular mojo Fleck and Boden affiliate with Oakland on the time. The filmmakers performed an identical sport in “Captain Marvel,” piling on the wink-wink tributes to mid-’90s popular culture in that case. (Bear in mind all of the retro needle drops? And the Blockbuster Video retailer scene?)

Right here, they flip again the clock one other decade, paying geek-out homage to all that was edgy and funky about Oakland circa 1987. It’s onerous to say who Fleck and Boden think about because the target market for “Freaky Tales,” past the plain hometown crowd. With its killer soundtrack and deep-cut allusions, their script lays declare to everybody from Bruce Lee to Tom Hanks (who hawked scorching canine at Oakland Coliseum), whereas celebrating the impression native musicians had on the zeitgeist.

The primary chapter focuses on the native punk scene, which begat bands like Operation Ivy and Inexperienced Day. Beneath their powerful exterior, East Bay punks have been much more tolerant than their earlier New York and London counterparts. “No Racism. No Sexism. No Homophobia. No Medicine. No Alcohol. No Violence,” reads an indication inside Gilman, a membership brutally raided by a gang of skinheads. The subsequent time the Neo-Nazis roll up, the punks are prepared, unleashing a road struggle baldly impressed by Walter Hill’s “The Warriors.”

Embellished with slo-mo and sprays of blood, the well-choreographed struggle scene is satisfying to observe, however violates a tenet of East Bay tradition: specifically, that phrases are the perfect weapons. Fleck and Boden put that philosophy in motion with the subsequent chapter, whereby Too $hort (Symba) challenges feminine duo Hazard Zone (performed by Dominique Thorne and Normani, in her performing debut) to an epic rap battle.

Every of the tales wraps abruptly, flashing again to an odd marketing campaign for one thing referred to as the Psyotics non secular studying middle — virtually the one continuity to be discovered because the bizarrely structured movie switches up facet ratios and visible kinds with every section. A NorCal “Brief Cuts” this isn’t, because the filmmakers take their cues not from Altman, however a wide selection of cult administrators, none greater than Quentin Tarantino (who wouldn’t seem for one more 5 years).

“Freaky Tales” takes almost 40 minutes to seek out its footing, however as soon as it does kick in, there’s roughly an hour of grindhouse glory forward (assuming streaming audiences make it that far). Stick round and also you’ll get a very surprising cameo from a good-sport A-lister with Bay Space roots (seen behind the counter of an old-school video retailer), plus a corker of a finale that includes rising star Jay Ellis in what quantities to a “Kill Invoice”-style, alternate-universe reimagining of Sleepy Jones’ huge evening — one wherein the ring star takes on a bigoted cop (Ben Mendelsohn) far dirtier than Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan.

Even earlier than Sleepy Jones can wreak his spectacular revenge, the film begins to select up with Pascal’s look within the third chapter. He performs Clint, a bone-crunching debt collector who’s resolved to go clear. Leaving his pregnant girlfriend (Natalia Dominguez) within the automobile, Clint breaks some fingers for the final time, not realizing destiny is about to meet up with him. Not like the punk and hip-hop segments that preceded it, Pascal’s plot feels substantial sufficient that it might have supported a whole function. Unusual then that his story ends so abruptly after he’s hauled into police headquarters — until you depend his much less energetic function within the last chapter.

From the texture of it, Fleck and Boden approached “Freaky Tales” as if it may very well be their “Pulp Fiction.” In any case, Tarantino’s film equally jumped round in time to give attention to characters who issue as background figures in each other’s tales. Each movies function as dizzying pop-culture pastiche, and whereas it’s enjoyable to see the co-directors minimize unfastened, “Freaky Tales” provides audiences much less motive to care about its ensemble. Tarantino has an intuition for rigidity — in addition to twisted comedy — that’s all however absent right here. Assuming that “Freaky Tales” was Fleck’s child, possibly Boden would be the one to dictate what their subsequent mission shall be. Between “Half Nelson” and this doing-the-most piledriver of a film, they’d do properly to dial it again to human-level tales.