By Kristin Marguerite Doidge
In 1987, Oakland, California, was “hella freaky.” At least that’s what the new film “Freaky Tales” tells us. Written and directed by Bay Area native Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, the film takes the audience on a wild ride through four separate but intertwining stories based on Fleck’s memories, both real and imagined.
Although the title is inspired by the Too $hort hip-hop anthem of the same name, the movie, which took Sundance by storm last year and hit theaters earlier this year, looks beyond the emerging hip-hop scene in Oakland toward several wildly different cultures living side by side in the same city. These distinct subcultures are linked by the events of the film, as well as by a mysterious “green force” that electrifies the East Bay during these pivotal days in May 1987.
The filmmakers knew they wanted to experiment with different aspect ratios and varying tones for each story segment to capture the vibe of other movies from the era and to create a mixtape feel. That’s where picture editor Robert Komatsu, ACE came in. He began experimenting in the cutting room with the visual style developed by cinematographer Jac Fitzgerald, including the use of chapter cards and unique transitions, which evolved significantly over the course of post-production.
Komatsu previously worked with Boden and Fleck on the limited series “Mrs. America,” which earned him award nominations for an Emmy and an ACE Eddie. Their close working relationship meant he was able to collaborate creatively with the directors from start to finish, tinkering with animated characters, VHS-like effects and comic book-inspired visual elements, a variety of music cues and different approaches to the live performance sequences, and unique visual effects throughout the movie, such as a split-screen sequence about how hard it was to be a vegetarian in North Carolina in 1987 — a style choice he said was a nod to the split-screen sequences he created in “Mrs. America.”
“Rob brings so much enthusiasm and a willingness to experiment to every project we work on with him,” Fleck said. “Some editors see themselves as conduits for executing the director’s vision, which is fine, but we want to collaborate with everyone we work with.”
Since Boden served as the editor on the pair’s first four movies, Fleck added that they especially appreciated Komatsu’s work ethic and creative sensibility. “Rob has so many fresh ideas and works tirelessly to find that special moment that we may have overlooked,” he said.
Komatsu felt a personal connection to the film’s setting. “Coincidentally, I also grew up in the Bay Area,” he said. “That’s what made this one all the more special. The guy’s house where they fight at the end is a two-minute walk from my grandparents’ house. When I went there over the Christmas hiatus, I stood in the driveway where they filmed and could see my grandparents’ house from there.”
The all-star ensemble cast includes Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us,” “The Mandalorian”), Ben Mendelsohn (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), Jay Ellis (“Running Point,” “Top Gun: Maverick”), Dominique Thorne (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), Jack Champion (“Avatar: The Way of Water”), Ji-young Yoo (“Smoking Tigers”), and fellow Bay Area native Tom Hanks, who makes a hilarious cameo as a cantankerous video store owner.
The filmmakers noted that the 12 miles separating the cities of Oakland and San Francisco might as well be 1,200 miles, given their cultural differences. Oakland has a history and identity deeply rooted in social justice and anti-racism.
By the late 1980s, rap artists like Too $hort took the beats that came out of the Bronx and gave them the Bay Area sound that became mainstream in 1987 when $hort was signed to Jive Records. He became an executive producer on the film, and rapper Symba sings his “Freaky Tales” song live in the second story segment. The movie’s live performances, such as those of Too $hort and the female rapping duo (which features rapper Normani in her film debut), provided many opportunities for Komatsu to experiment with various shots in the edit.
For the recorded music, he and assistant editor Keven Pelon helped provide numerous song options for the directors to consider. Music editor Rob Bertola further experimented with songs and score options once they were in the mix stage, and Fleck also spent many weekends looking for song ideas.
“My assistant editor, Keven, came up with this idea for a super sequence,” Komatsu said. “He made a new sequence, laid the song in, then cut every single shot of picture into that sequence. If there wasn’t room because many shots often covered the same part of the song, Keven would create a new video channel and put that in until it filled up. It ultimately became a sequence with one audio channel and 46 video channels. When I was working with Ryan and Anna, if we got to a certain part of the song and thought, ‘Let’s change that shot of Too $hort’ or ‘What else do we have?’ I could go to this super sequence and say, ‘Here’re all of our options already in sync right there.’”
Because Komatsu began his career as a visual effects editor on films such as “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” he‘s had a particularly keen eye for using visual effects to help tell a story in the most dynamic and entertaining way possible. He worked closely with visual effects supervisor Rian Johnson and visual effects editor Matt Steeves, especially on the chaotic punk fight sequence (one of Komatsu’s favorites) in which certain moments were shot in extreme slow motion at 936 frames per second.
“It was apparent I was going to do speed ramps with some of the action, but although the actual edits didn’t change much throughout post, the visual style changed considerably,” Komatsu noted. “At a certain point, for example, we wondered, ‘What if we did freeze frames on some of the hits?’ So we did that on certain key hits and had the blood continue to be in motion.”
That’s when Boden said she’d been thinking about the action lines from comic books. Komatsu picked up a pencil and paper and began drawing lines that visually represented the impact of being hit with a fist. Boden loved it. “We gave it to our visual effects editor and started comping those in. We considered using ‘BOOM!’ and ‘ARRGH!’, and then our supervisor handwrote those on the frames. It was a total evolution that we did together in post.”
That notion of “experimenting until you break it” came to be the ethos of the movie, and something Komatsu said he’ll take with him on future projects.
“The Legend of Sleepy Floyd” is the final chapter that ties together the other story threads of the film. It took place on May 10, 1987, when the real-life Golden State Warriors’ Eric “Sleepy” Floyd scored 29 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game against the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers — a record that still stands today. The famous performance stuck with Fleck because it meant that sometimes, the underdog wins.
The film’s theme of being an underdog who rises to the occasion and shows resilience in the face of adversity also resonated with Komatsu. “I feel like it should strike a chord for everyone who’s felt like an underdog at some point,” he said. “And I feel that it grounds the film for everyone. As Sleepy says in the movie, ‘Unless you’re a Nazi scumbag, this movie is probably for you.’”
The way the characters come together to become unlikely allies in the film will stay with him, too. “I love the diversity that we have in the film, and I love the message, especially about fighting against antisemitism and homophobia,” he said. “It’s crazy that I feel like this film resonates even more today than when Ryan and Anna were conceiving and writing it.”
