I was not ready for Freaky Tales. It arrives relatively unheralded, and the trailer implies a stylish but rote crime thriller with the appealing figure of Pedro Pascal to recommend it. The reality, however, is that it’s both a splendid Tarantino pastiche and a unique, thrilling piece of pop entertainment in its own right. As to the former, it employs the time-jumping, multiple storylines of Pulp Fiction and the fast-and-loose treatment of historical fact of Inglourious Basterds. As to the latter, it’s a pitch-perfect tribute to a very specific time and place: Oakland, California, in 1987.

The predominant action takes place precisely on May 10, 1987, which happens to have been the date of Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. But that’s not apparent up front. After a brief prologue that describes a strange green energy of mysterious origin that has disrupted normal life and inspired a self-help program known as Psychonautics, the first of these four freaky tales kicks off outside a movie theater showing The Lost Boys, Ishtar, Radio Days, and Raising Arizona. Four more Caucasian films on one marquee are hard to imagine, and this first chapter involves a diverse and radical underground punk rock club that decides to finally tell the local band of Nazi punks to fuck off. The second follows an aspiring female rap duo who receive an unexpected invitation to collaborate with Bay Area legend Too $hort, while the third provides the tragic backstory for a criminal enforcer (Pascal) who’s been lurking in the background of the previous two stories. Finally, everything comes together with an over-the-top, blood-soaked revenge saga involving a Warriors player, his collection of “Asian art,” and the dirty cop (Ben Mendelsohn) who orders a burglary-gone-bad at his home.

The vintage feel of the flick comes courtesy of occasional VHS tracking static on the image, as well as reel-change flickers, and the period detail within is fetishistically correct. There’s a scene in a video store which not only features what will definitely be the best cameo appearance of 2025 and a historically accurate pegboard listing of upcoming releases, but leaves you hanging with a movie trivia question that’s not answered before the end credits. (My money is on The Bad News Bears, for what it’s worth.) The screenplay incorporates real-life figures such as Too $hort (who’s played by an actor but provides narration and gets an executive producer credit) and Warriors legend “Sleepy” Floyd. It’s accurate that Floyd scored a still-record 29 points in the fourth quarter of that May 10 game, single-handedly preventing his team from getting swept by the “Showtime” Lakers, but, as far as I know, there was not a rash of break-ins that night at the homes of Warriors players, much less one that resulted in a shooting at Floyd’s residence. But, really, who can say?

All that said, maybe the most surprising thing is that Freaky Tales is, although I didn’t realize it until the end credits, the latest film by Ryan Fleck (an Oakland native) and Anna Boden. The directing pair delves back into original content five years after their Icarian brush with the Marvel machine directing Captain Marvel. Even the indie duo’s pre-superhero work, including the naturalistic Sugar and Mississippi Grind, doesn’t prepare you for this inventive, hilarious mélange of nostalgia, indulgence, and sheer goofiness. (Regal Fox Tower, Clackamas Town Center)

Being Maria: Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 Last Tango in Paris features one of the most raw and startling film performances in history from Marlon Brando. It also, as has become more widely known over the decades, has a scene in which Brando’s co-star, Maria Schneider, was forced to endure what amounts to a sexual assault while the cameras were rolling. Last Tango is Exhibit A in why intimacy coordinators need to be available to any actors who want them, and Schneider is a case study in the way the film industry can exploit and discard young women for its own purposes. Director Jessica Palud’s film, based on a book by Schneider’s cousin, tells the tale from Maria’s perspective, including the effect the film had on her life and career. Anamaria Vartolomei, who was so impressive in 2021’s Happening (and has a role in Mickey 17), embodies Schneider as she moves from the eager naïveté of a 19-year-old who’s elated to be cast alongside a legend to the traumatized figure who developed a reputation for unreliability in the decade after her scandalous performance.

Just as fascinating is the performance of Matt Dillon as Brando. He (with an assist from his hair and makeup team) does their level best, and Dillon’s got both the jawline and the light in his eyes for the part, but of course it’s an impossible task. It’s Bertolucci, played by Giuseppe Maggio, who comes off worst. He’s an unapologetic paragon for the generally discarded notion that the making of great cinema is more important than the health and well-being of the people making it. The degree to which he, Brando, or Last Tango should be ejected from the canon is a complicated one, but what’s less ambiguous is the fact, as this film shows, that Schneider, like so many others, deserved better. (Regal Fox Tower)

The Friend: I have not read the 2018 book by Sigrid Nunez upon which this film is based, but I can only assume that it has more depth and merit than this rather pedestrian story about a New York writer (Naomi Watts) who inherits a massive Great Dane named Apollo from her deceased mentor (Bill Murray). After all, the novel won the National Book Award and has been acclaimed as “a consummate example of the human-animal tale.” It’s not as if The Friend is a painful watch, but writer-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel seem to have simplified and maudlinized things. What’s left is a typical and predictable, if well-acted story about a woman whose orderly life is upended by the chaotic presence of an adorable critter, which causes her to reevaluate her priorities and come to terms with her grief. Watts and Murray (mostly in flashback) are both just fine, and there’s a scene near the end of the film that hints at what the film could have been, but mostly this is a showcase for Bing, the canine star who, as W.C. Fields warned nearly a decade ago, steals every scene he’s in. (Wide release)

The Luckiest Man in America: As any habitual viewer of the Game Show Network should know, one of the most curious events in television history occurred on May 19, 1984, when a contestant named Michael Larson won over $110,000 on Press Your Luck. The game required contestants to press a button while squares on a prize board lit up in a seemingly random sequence, hoping to stop the sequence on a square with a prize rather than the dreaded Whammy, which would reduce their winnings to zero. Larson, an ice cream truck driver with a schlubby mien who’s played by Paul Walter Hauser in this dramatization, had determined that the sequences were not truly random. He used this knowledge to run the table, sending the show’s producers and host (a what’s-he-doing-here Walton Goggins as Peter Tomarken) into fits of confusion and despair. While the period detail is spot-on, and Hauser adds wrinkles to a one-note character, one wishes that director Samir Oliveros had tried to put the story in a broader context. Employing a real-time narrative creates tension as Larson’s impossible streak befuddles his competitors, but ends up providing precious little insight into why we should care about this caper. (Wide release)

Nora: Portland-raised director Anna Campbell stars in her own feature debut as a woman who gives up her music career to move back to her hometown and dedicate herself to motherhood, despite her ambivalence. Read my recent interview with Campbell here. (Living Room Theaters)

ON DISC

The Black Tulip and Ho!: Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo were two sides of the French movie star coin. The Apollonian, impossibly handsome Delon, who died last year, was in many ways the polar opposite of the Dionysian, terminally rumpled Belmondo. While each contributed more than a few iconic performances, from Purple Noon and Le Samouraï to Breathless and Les Misérables, they both had prolific outputs, including dozens of relatively forgettable films. Those efforts, though, still have something to offer, as evidenced by these two new Blu-ray releases from Kino Lorber.

Delon appeared in 1964’s The Black Tulip as a direct response to Belmondo’s similarly swashbuckling smash hit Cartouche from two years earlier. It’s nominally based on an Alexandre Dumas novel set just prior to the French Revolution, and in it Delon tackles the Scarlet Pimpernel-style double role of a nobleman who’s secretly a bandit and his identical, politically radical, brother. When the former is scarred on the cheek, threatening to spoil his secret identity, he recruits the latter to impersonate him at court. Christian-Jaque, whose best-known film is probably 1952’s Fanfan la Tulipe, directs, with Virna Lisi, the Italian star who bounced back and forth between Europe and Hollywood, along for the ride as Delon’s love interest. It’s colorful, well-mounted (shot on Superpanorama 70mm!), and delectably disposable.

In appropriate contrast, the 1968 Belmondo vehicle Ho! is gritty and street-level. He plays a race car driver who, after his partner’s fiery death, becomes a driver for the mob. After being incarcerated, he decides to get more ambitious, and soon aspires to become, as the newspapers put it, a cross between Al Capone and Arsène Lupin. It’s not a great film by any stretch, but Belmondo’s tobacco-stained charisma shines through and the location shots provide a fascinating glimpse of 1968 Paris. The audio commentary track traces the despicable history of Joseph Damiani, upon whose novel the film was based. Damiani was a Nazi collaborator and murderer who avoided a death sentence after the war, changed his name, and wrote several books that were made into films, including the classic prison-break flick Le Trou. Other interesting nuggets include the fact that director Joseph Enrico also made the Oscar-winning short The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and that Belmondo’s co-star Joanna Shimkus later became the longtime spouse, and now widow of, Sidney Poitier.

ALSO THIS WEEK

TAG! Queer Shorts Film Festival: As with all non-heteronormative events these days, the 2025 queer shorts festival takes on added urgency as the rights and very personhood of queer and nonbinary people are being challenged on numerous fronts. The organizers refer to this as an “act of defiance” and the visibility provided by four programs of short films over two days should hopefully provide solace and a sense of community. Saturday’s lineup includes films about finding one’s identity and a selection of work from Northwest filmmakers, while Sunday features efforts from Latinx creators and closes with films that serve as acts of resistance. (Hollywood Theatre, 4/5 and 4/6)

Italian Film Festival: Taking over Portland State University’s 5th Avenue Cinemas for the next two weekends, this annual event offers an opportunity to indulge in Italian films that otherwise may not receive distribution in the U.S. This weekend’s selections include the WWII submarine thriller The Commander, the heartwarming small-town school comedy A World Apart, and the postwar-set drama There’s Still Tomorrow. In the latter, which does have American distribution but is unlikely to play Portland, a mother tries to help her daughter escape the cycle of poverty and domestic violence while anticipating her participation in the first Italian election ever open to women. (5th Avenue Cinema, 4/4 to 4/6 and 4/11 to 4/13)

ALSO OPENING

Hell of a Summer: “The counselors of a summer camp are terrorized by a masked killer.” (Wide release)

A Minecraft Movie: “Four misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected, expert crafter.” (Wide release)

A Nice Indian Boy: “When Naveen brings his fiancé Jay home to meet his traditional Indian family, they must contend with accepting his white-orphan-artist boyfriend and helping them plan the Indian wedding of their dreams.” (Regal Fox Tower)

Parvulos: Children of the Apocalypse: Three young brothers living in a cabin in the middle of the woods hide a dark, disturbing secret in their basement. (Movies on TV)

REPERTORY

Friday 4/4

• The Big Lebowski [1998] (Academy Theater, through 4/10)
• The Conversation [1974] (Academy Theater, through 4/10)
• The French Connection [1971] (Kiggins Theatre)
• Ginger Snaps [2001] (Academy Theater, through 4/10)
• Kill Your Darlings [2013] (5th Avenue Cinema, through 4/6)
• The Kindred [1987] (Cinemagic, on VHS)
• No Country for Old Men [2007] (Cinema 21, also 4/5)
• Purple Rain [1984] (Cinemagic, also 4/5, 4/8, 4/9)
• Tremors [1990] (Hollywood Theatre)

Saturday 4/5

• Boogie Nights [1997] (Cinemagic, also 4/10)
• Fargo [1996] (Cinema 21)
• The Fast and the Furious triple feature [2001/2006/2021] (Tomorrow Theater)
• Lonely Are the Brave [1962] (Hollywood Theatre, also 4/6)
• Mulholland Dr. [2000] (Salem Cinema)
• Pom Poko [1994] (Clinton St. Theater)
• Star Trek: First Contact [1996] (Hollywood Theatre)

Sunday 4/6

• Belly [1998] (Cinemagic, also 4/7)
• Poetic Justice [1994] (Cinemagic, also 4/7)
• Random Harvest [1943] (Tomorrow Theater)
• Tekkonkinkreet [2006] (Hollywood Theatre)
• True Stories [1984] (Cinemagic, also 4/8 & 4/9)
• The Truman Show [1998] (Tomorrow Theater)
• Unforgiven [1992] (Salem Cinema)

Monday 4/7

• Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse [2014] (Clinton St. Theater)
• Girls Town [1996] (Hollywood Theatre)
• Timecop [1993] (Hollywood Theatre)

Tuesday 4/8

• Shaolin vs. Lama [1983] (Hollywood Theatre, on 35mm)

Wednesday 4/9

• Magic and Enigma: The Animation of Priit Pärn (Clinton St. Theater)
• Naked Killer [1992] (Hollywood Theatre)

Thursday 4/10

• Written on the Wind [1956] (Hollywood Theatre, on 35mm)