Real Reflections: “I Love Boosters” is The Manifesto According to Boots Riley
On the evening of April 30, I stepped into the Regal theater on Western Avenue for a special advanced screening of “I Love Boosters,” the new film from artist-provocateur/Certified Communist Boots Riley. This screening in particular was hosted by Murs’ Groundwave series, which brings hip-hop fans and artists together to share space and coalesce, and would feature a Q&A with the director following the film. For the unfamiliar, Riley first achieved mainstream notoriety after the release of his debut film “Sorry To Bother To You” in 2018, but he’s been making music with his pro-revolutionary band, The Coup, and organized labor unions for well over a decade before that. “Sorry To Bother You” left an impact on society with it’s strong pro-union message, inspiring the real-life formation of some workplace unions across the country, yet it is mostly remembered in pop culture for it’s absurd comedy and plot elements featuring Danny Glover with a “white voice” and the full-frontal imagery of a half-man/half-horse penis. With such contrasting elements, I was curious to see how Riley would follow up such a brilliantly wild film, and all I can say is I should have known what the vibe of “Boosters” was gonna be when Mr. Boots himself arrived at the premises dressed like a Dr. Seuss character (complimentary).
“I Love Boosters” follows our main character Corvetter (Keke Palmer), the leader of a group of shoplifters who explicitly steal overpriced, high-end designer clothes and sell them back to their community at an affordable price (known as boosting) like a modern-day fashion Robin Hood. Aside from that, Corvette is also an amateur designer herself with hopes and aspirations to make a career in an industry that is dominated by our film’s main antagonist, Christie Smith (Demi Moore). Christie is ultimately a pretentious, obnoxious, and money-hungry capitalist fashion designer/CEO who thinks that every new idea they have is God’s gift to humanity, who steals a design from Corvette. From there, Corvette and the rest of the boosters plan the ultimate booster heist in order to get back at Christie by getting a job at one of her stores and shoplifting from the inside, but what makes this film stand out is the way it examines the exploitative nature of capitalism from a retail employee’s perspective, a POV that is sure to be way more relatable to the average person today. Subsequently, a fellow employee named Violeta (Eiza Gonzalez) tries to unionize their workplace, and in an absolutely iconic scene, essentially explains Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto by breaking down the immortal science of dialectical materialism in between fat cloud rips from her vape.
I don’t want to explain too much, because truthfully, this is one of those films where the more blind you go into it, the better. As a filmmaker, Boots Riley lives in the space that exists between Surrealism and Absurdism, two different philosophies/artistic approaches that warp our perceptions of reality by turning it into something from a dream or cartoon. Boots uses this approach to highlight just how absurd the contradictions and issues of our society’s capitalist nature truly is, and despite that subject being a dense topic on its own, the film makes it digestible with wacky humor and bright, colorful visuals. At the crux of it all, though, is a glimpse of what our world could look like with a truly united global workers’ movement because, at the end of the day, it's the 1% of this world that relies on the labor of the rest of the 99% of the world for their livelihood. Not the other way around.
I definitely recommend consuming whatever is your preferred drug of choice in order to maximize your viewing experience, as this film does not abide by the laws of our world’s physics whatsoever, so make sure to suspend your disbelief. Additionally, the cast is absolutely remarkable. Of course, Keke Palmer is as charming as ever, and Demi Moore makes you despise her character, but praise is definitely due for the supporting actors in this film as well for their stellar performances, such as Taylour Paige, Naomie Ackie, and Poppy Liu as the other boosters who help serve as the emotional anchors of both the film and Corvette’s character, plus an absultuely hilarious role for WIll Poulter as a snooty, by-the-book retail store manager. Also, someone tell Eiza Gonzalez that she can explain dialectics to me any day of the week <3
Now, if you are the type of person who enjoys movies with an actual political message and wish to see more films with explicitly pro-worker, anti-capitalist messages, then be sure to run– don’t walk– to your nearest theater to support “I Love Boosters” for it’s opening weekend.
