I Love Boosters

A maximalist romp that’s somehow Marxist in intention, Boots Riley does not disappoint with his much anticipated second feature. A fraternal twin to his first film Sorry to Bother You (2018), I Love Boosters exists in a world pulsing with imaginative and narrative lawlessness. The loosely defined plot follows a group of female “boosters” who steal luxury clothes and sell them for a discount rate on the streets of the East Bay. The friends are played by the absurdly talented Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, and Taylour Paige—offering a cinematic trifecta of charismatic abundance. Lead by a star turn for Palmer, the boosters target haute couture designer and fashion mogul Christie Smith (a pitch-perfect and blonde lobbed Demi Moore). By infiltrating one of Smith’s gloriously monochromatic retail stores, the friends discover Smith is mistreating her workers and stealing fashion designs from amateurs.

While the second half of the movie is over-burdened by too many zany B, C, and D plots, the film is undeniable for its innovation and sensory craft. Though the world of fast fashion is satirized, the film itself is an ode to the creation of clothes. Lead by revered costume designer Shirley Kurata, each outfit acts as an ASMR massage for the artistic brain — the colors, the shapes, the combinations! If Kurata does not end up on an Oscars short list next March, picketing will surely ensue. So get ye to your local theater and prepare to gear up, get loose, and bliss out —you are in for quite a ride.