There is simply no one making movies like Boots Riley. The idiosyncratic artist with an eye for color and style, revels in surrealism but also layers in thoughts about tangible issues like economic exploitation, racism, and propaganda. In the follow-up to his breakout feature debut “Sorry to Bother You,” Riley conjures up an equally strange but lurid vision of the fashion industry that pokes fun at the absurdities of the big personalities earning headlines about their collections, to the real-life hazards and struggles of the working-class people just trying to survive, and occasionally, use clothes as their own canvas.
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“I Love Boosters” follows a trio of friends, the aspiring designer Corvette (Keke Palmer), pyramid-scheme-driven but good-hearted Sade (Naomi Ackie), and enterprising Mariah (Taylour Paige), as they eke out a living on the fringes of the Bay Area selling clothes stolen from designer stores, namely those of Christine Smith (Demi Moore), a tyrannical designer obsessed with color coordination. After Smith insults the Velvet Gang for stealing her stuff, they decide to mount a revenge attack, meeting other people wronged by Smith’s company along the way, like Violeta (Eiza González), a fed-up employee organizing her fellow workers, and Jianhu (Poppy Liu), a visitor teleported from Smith’s factory that’s poisoning its workers through toxic processes like sandblasting denim.
Riley, who wrote and directed “I Love Boosters,” has once again delivered a wildly original film that’s meant to provoke discussion and make the audience laugh. The narrative layers one storyline on top of another, highlighting the shared struggles of these groups, who at first seem to want different outcomes but eventually realize they all want things to change for the better. But no Riley film would be complete without his sharp sense of humor. As with “Sorry to Bother You,” Riley’s visual jokes and pithy one-liners can be both funny and add social commentary, like when skewering the all-too-brief lunch break, he imagines starting it like an Olympic event where the workers speed off and race back out of breath in under 30 seconds instead of the mandated half an hour. One of the movie’s best jokes is showing newscasts featuring so-called everyday citizens calling for more cops and exploitation, which doubles as a critique of how the media can spin propaganda to benefit other interests.
There’s a sense of DIY scrappiness to the film’s special effects, stop-motion animation, and surreal elements, but it only emphasizes Riley’s handmade approach. Cinematographer Natasha Braier, production designer Christopher Glass, and costume designer Shirley Kurata look to have had a field day every day on set, creating eye-popping environments and costumes that defy explanation, everything from what looks like a set of floral themed couture dresses riffing on “Midsommar” to retro chic ensembles, thrift store pastiche, monochromatic business wear, and high end wedding and evening dresses, and so on. Riley’s returning musical collaborators, the Tune-Yards, give the movie an extra bounce with an earworm-worthy, funky theme and hilarious interstitial beats that range from a seductive bass riff to an off-kilter recorder cacophony.
“I Love Boosters” is chock-full of wild characters, played by actors turning in some of their most wonderfully unhinged performances. In an early moment in the movie, Don Cheadle steals his scene as the benevolently evil pyramid schemer Dr. Jack, pitching power and friendship through stealing from his victims’ social networks. Later, Will Poulter shows up as the Velvet Gang’s cruel, color-coded boss, carrying out Smith’s orders and charging employees for the clothes they have to wear at work. Throughout the film, LaKeith Stanfield shows up as a Prince-like demon with intense eyes and a bizarre backstory, just another excellent presence in a movie full of surprise appearances.
“I Love Boosters” might feel a bit choppy or too busy with its ambitious goal to address so much of what’s wrong in the fashion world, but no one can ever accuse Riley of being boring. His second feature is an imaginative anti-capitalist satire that will likely be more visually engaging than many other movies heading to theaters this year. It’s unafraid to make silly references like a mini-film made by “Jean-Luc Dogard” and feature a climactic Wes Anderson-style car chase, but also raise awareness about the working conditions of factory workers abroad. Buffeted by both an incredible cast and crew, “I Love Boosters” is an unexpected celebration of friendship, community, and solidarity. [A-]
