Riff-Raff

Following a foray into commercial cinema with the political thriller HIDDEN AGENDA, British director Ken Loach returned to his roots in social realism with a bittersweet comedy-drama about London construction workers.

The film's slight plot focuses on Stevie (Robert Carlyle), who moves to London from his home in Glasgow, where he has served a prison term for theft. Stevie finds work with an unscrupulous building contractor whose disregard for safe working conditions is balanced by his willingness to hire laborers without checking their backgrounds or identities. This suits Stevie's colorful, polyglot co-workers, most of whom use false names in order to continu...