“I Love Boosters” gives American imperialism the boot

I Love Boosters is not a movie. It’s a call to action.

Boots Riley’s newest film doesn’t hold back, in its messaging or in its weirdness.

It is funny, visually stunning, and unique. Despite the fact that I Love Boosters is clearly a political statement that loudly condemns capitalism and the institutions that uphold it, this reviewer still found herself laughing out loud throughout, clapping whenever the underdogs landed a punch against “the system,” and gawking in awe at the intricate costumes and stunning visuals. The film intentionally blends surrealist imagery and hysterical hijinks to create the imaginative medium through which director Boots Riley delivers a one-two punch against the monopoly capitalist system that has come to dominate our present society.

That said, it’s also utterly absurd and outlandish. There are strange subplots and unnecessarily creepy and uncomfortable sex scenes including a handsome and apologetic demon (don’t ask). The second half of the film also felt a bit long and chaotic, especially the final “chase” scene. Indeed, it’s far from perfect. But, at a time when Hollywood has been monopolized by a handful of giant studios pumping out the same dull, trite, mindless slop – Boots Riley’s newest film feels like the breath of fresh air bored movie-goers have been gasping for.

The film is centered around a group of Black women boosters called The Velvet Gang, who steal from high-end clothing stores to resell at a cheaper rate to the community. Aspiring fashion designer Corvette (Keke Palmer) and her best friend Sade (Naomie Ackie) lead the Velvet Gang, along with their friend Mariah (Taylour Paige). After realizing that fashion mogul Christie Smith (Demi Moore) has been “boosting” ideas from Corvette to make her high-end fashion, the Velvet Gang commit to targeting her stores’ locations throughout the Bay Area as revenge.

Simultaneously, workers at Smith’s “Mogul” stores have realized their own exploitation, thanks to the leadership and political clarity of the perpetually-vaping employee Violeta (Eiza Gonzalez), who is trying to get all her fellow workers to strike against the company. In a politically-motivated sci-twist very much in the spirit of proletarian internationalism, the Velvet Gang end up roping in Jianhu (Poppy Liu), a worker from one of Mogul’s factories in China, by using a device created by the Chinese government that reveals and deconstructs the dialectical nature of all things you point it at (again, don’t ask).

Viewers should be ready for an absolutely wild ride that is as wacky and colorful as the Mogul stores where much of the film takes place. Such color stands in contrast to the darkness much of us feel hovering around us, the darkness of greed and war and exploitation by the hands of the few. But in our world so dominated by an ever more brazen monopoly capitalist class and their greedy attacks on the oppressed people of the world, I Love Boosters reminds us that it is the international working class that carries the torch of hope that can set this capitalist system ablaze.

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