I Love Boosters

Welcome to hyperfixed - a low-stakes publication where I share everything and anything i’m excited about, with anyone who will listen. It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for me, working on my fourth (!) Met Gala and having the absolute dream come true of witnessing Sabrina Carpenter and Stevie Nicks’ legendary double feature - feeling somewhat recovered from my sleepless schedule and a very rainy memorial day weekend, i’m making the most of the long and fruitful summer ahead, kicking off with visiting the Met’s Costume Art exhibit, outdoor drinks at Time Again, and catching up on this year’s tony nominated slate of shows. Without further ado, here’s new hyperfixed.

I Love Boosters 🎬

I’ve been seated for Boots Riley’s sophomore feature, I Love Boosters, ever since its first monochromatic stills were unveiled, and it was everything I could have wished for in a summer blockbuster and more. Close to eight years since his brilliant and bizarre auteur turn in Sorry To Bother You, one i’m still kicking myself over for not seeing in theatres, Boots returns with another boisterous, surreal anti-capitalism romp, thankfully with a little less literal horseplay this time around. In I Love Boosters, a tight-knit crew of inventive boosters turns shoplifting into a radical act of defiance as they target a cutthroat fashion mogul stealing their designs, sparking a worldwide retail and factory worker uprising.

Those that have seen Sorry To Bother You know that the joy of a Boots Riley joint lies in never knowing what could possibly happen next. I Love Boosters is a funnier, stranger, and surprisingly hopeful commentary on capitalism and the current exploitative state of fashion and art. ‘People don’t want to be the art, they want to be artists!’ Boosters operates on a whole other plane of campy, magical realism with its whimsical production design and elaborate CGI and stop motion sequences, but the film’s true hero piece is its vibrant costume design by Shirley Kurata. Each intricately imagined outfit is its own work of art and the ultimate antidote to cinema’s current color gradient crisis, redefining maximalist fashion while taking on a life of its own.

Boots has always had an exceptional eye for talent, and he knocks it out of the park with the film’s effortlessly eccentric ensemble who are all game for just about anything. LaKeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle, Will Poulter, Demi Moore, and Eric André are having the time of their lives leaning into the absurdity of their characters with wholehearted conviction, while Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Eiza González, and newcomer Poppy Liu make up the ultimate cool girl clique, kicking some serious ass while making memorable additions to their respective canons of illustrious leading roles. Most of all, I love how much Boosters lets Keke Palmer shine - her longstanding presence in pop culture makes it easy to take her enormous talents for granted, but her recent run of generation defining cult classics (Boosters, One Of Them Days, Nope) continue to prove just how undeniable her range and star power is.

Without hyperbole, Boots Riley is one of the most exciting filmmakers to be watching right now, and we’re blessed not only to be witnessing such a distinct and visionary auteur filmography unfold in real time, but to also be seeing unapologetic stories of revolution play out on the largest screens, especially in our current state of censored media - fellow writer/lover/hater Marquita Norwood puts it best.

I Love Boosters is an immersive, eccentric work of art bursting with pride that demands to be experienced with community. It takes a village to make a film like this one, and it takes a village to get behind original filmmaking that dares to engage and radicalize audiences. Boosters is a film for everyone, and the fashion-forward cinema that we all deserve. In theatres.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 🎬

It would be amiss of me not to mention the other, albeit inferior, fashion film of the summer, a legacy sequel twenty years in the making. The first time I saw the original The Devil Wears Prada was with my frontal lobe fully developed, and I have since stood by it being a perfect film. I instantly related to Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs, as a fellow twenty-something girl that landed in the fashion industry by chance rather than want, before falling in love with it and making it their own. While The Devil Wears Prada 2 felt unnecessary and ultimately forgettable, I was surprisingly taken a back by the bittersweet candor with which it approached its delicate subject matter of a presently changing titan industry.

The scene in the film that stuck with me most was Miranda Priestly’s heartfelt admission that she loves to work - the loving acknowledgement of women who willingly choose to center their life around work without shame or regret was representation I hadn’t seen expressed with such matter of fact before. Controversially, I was also an apologist for Andy’s love interest™ - throw tomatoes at me, I don’t care! Don’t get me wrong, they could not have put forward a more bland prospect for Anne Hathaway (although my Mom claims he is a big deal in Australia), and I loved the detail of Andy choosing not to settle in her forties and freezing her eggs instead, but i’ve always disliked the notion that women excelling in their careers and personal lives should negate their desire for romantic love. More than seeing the film itself, i’ve loved reading all the thoughtful and nuanced reviews from fellow female industry writers, whose dissection of the film as it relates to today’s creative landscape hit especially close to home - here are some of my favorite reviews that I have found myself returning to and taking note of.

On Repeat 🎧 ✨

A few new albums + singles I’ve been loving lately, for your hyperfixation consideration:

• Runway, Doechii, Lady Gaga

• Idea 1, Kelela

• Comfort, Kelsey Lu

• Tough, Nia Smith, Destin Conrad

• Drop Dead, Olivia Rodrigo