I’m a Virgo

Available on Amazon Prime

With his entertaining, but no less unsettling, debut feature Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley distinguished himself as a filmmaker with a singular vision, one that fuses jarring aesthetics and offbeat comedy with more profound, socio-political musings.

This mini-series continues those themes and, like its aforementioned predecessor, is a deeply personal production that draws on Riley’s own life experiences, in particular his communist worldview and long-standing activist work. Given, however, that I’m a Virgo is about Cootie (Jharrel Jerome), a 13-foot-tall black teenager that is shielded from the outside world by his overbearing but well-intentioned aunt and uncle, the undercurrent of its narrative is not immediately apparent.

Instead, its deeper meaning is gradually unravelled over the course of seven episodes which see Cootie experience the outside world through his friendship with a group of fledgling activists (played by Brett Gray, Kara Young, and Allius Barnes) and unusual romance with Flora (Olivia Washington), whose work in a popular fast-food joint does not do justice to her true capabilities.

Jerome is typically wonderful in the lead role, bringing the same sensibility that he brought to his roles in Moonlight and the outstanding When They See Us. Whether Cootie’s gargantuan stature is intended to be an allegory for the experience of a young black man growing up in contemporary America is never made explicit, but both he and his cohorts are certainly displayed by Riley as being ‘other’. Moreover, the protagonists of I’m a Virgo are something which the established order, embodied most clearly by Walton Goggins’ comic book author turned crimefighter, wish to subjugate and control.

This, along with the odd and infrequent Parking Tickets cartoon sketches, distinguish the show as something completely out of the norm, a challenging and absorbing thesis on contemporary culture and the everyday experience of young African-Americans. Riley’s stylings may not be immediately accessible, but he is undoubtedly a creator of serious intellect and bravado.