Boots Riley says ‘I Love Boosters’ aims to push people to organise at work

LOS ANGELES: Director Boots Riley has said his film 'I Love Boosters' is meant to challenge audiences and provoke discussion, according to Reuters.

Riley said he wants to push viewers away and then pull them back in. In his words, that way they are not just experiencing the film but understanding that he is putting something forward, not merely saying this is how the world is.

He said he wants people to engage with that honestly. "What I'm doing is not just trying to expose truths," he said, adding a profanity to dismiss that idea. He said he would not be making art if that were the aim. "I'm trying to get people to join organizations and organize on the job," he said.

Actor Poppy Liu said Riley's open engagement with political issues drew her to the project. She said she sometimes gets frustrated with directors who say they do not get political.

"You already are, babes," Liu said. She said having a platform and a career is political, as is the question of whose stories and voices are highlighted and whose are not.

Liu said she values a director like Riley, who accepts that he is a member of the machine of society. She said he uses that position, takes agency over it, critiques it and stays aware of himself, with art as a vehicle for the discussion. "I love that," she said.

The film is a science fiction crime comedy set in a whimsical version of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its characters take on a ruthless fashion mogul, Christie Smith, played by Demi Moore. The crew discover that she has appropriated their designs.

Keke Palmer leads the ensemble cast as Corvette, a struggling clothing designer. The cast also includes Naomi Ackie, Poppy Liu, Eiza Gonzalez and Taylour Paige.

The film is distributed by Neon and Universal Pictures International.

Its backdrop is luxury fashion. Beyond that, it deals with themes of capitalism, consumerism and exploitation. It examines how those forces shape both industries and personal relationships.