Riff-Raff (1993)

WORKING-CLASS HEROES

Director Ken Loach's RIFF-RAFF earned the 1991 European Film Award in the Best Film category. It was also Robert Carlyle's first film and the only screenplay written by Bill Jesse. Jesse was a former construction worker who used to put on paper little anecdotes about his work or about his comrades. For more information about him, buy the zone 2 DVD of RIFF RAFF available at Amazon.fr which offers as bonus feature a very interesting interview with Ken Loach.

RIFF-RAFF is more a comedy than a realist drama and some of its little stories are really hilarious like when Larry takes a bath in the sole fully equipped apartment of the building while veiled ladies are just about to visit this particular flat. The final scene of RIFF-RAFF reminds us that Ken Loach's characters, even if they belong to the lowest social classes, are also entitled to enjoy the flavour of revenge.

A VHS to throw into the garbage can as soon as the zone 1 DVD is available. June 17, 2007

Funny and sad - and very offbeat

How many English language movies have you seen with English subtitles? Here's one. It's set in down-and-out working class London, mainly in a run-down building reminiscent of the one Dustin Hoffman inhabited in MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Robert Carlyle is Stevie, a day laborer and with him is Susie, a singer with big ambitions but who can't sing very well. Very funny in spots, also very sad - and about as realistic as could be. Okay as far as it goes, but if there's a message behind it, it gets lost in the movie's offbeat storyline. September 18, 2006

warning - plot disclosures

A very dark social commentary on English laborers today - nothing goes right and in the end they burn the building site where they work. Romance doesn't work out either - family is on drugs, Mom dies, and the work has been torched. Loach has been for many years now the director for the English working class, and has done a magnificent job of it. His work is always riveting. Not always pleasant, but that does not make it less worthy. You may know what happens, but not why or how, and of course, that is what counts. February 15, 2006

Tough in the trenches.

In some ways I felt as though I'd died and gone to heaven the first time I saw Riff Raff, an out and out honest look at working class men of varied, and sometimes dubious, backgrounds connected through their work on a construction sight in London.

The cast of characters defines the term `mixed bag'. I couldn't help but think of a half dozen or so Archie Bunkers on the job site, each one with their own set of priorities, talking about the most important thing in the world, to no one but himself. It all brings a smile to my face.

Our closest look is at Stevie (Robert Carlyle of "The Full Monty"), a former petty thief, who works with a crew converting condos for the nouveau riche, while he's forced to break into an abandoned building just to find a place to squat.

Director Ken Loach expertly focuses on the lower class in Britain (witness his brilliant 1999 feature-"My Name is Joe") where the honesty laced with humor of his viewpoint tends to provide humanity to an otherwise ignored sect. To shine a bit of light on an otherwise dismal existence as it may.

Loach's characters are never overly redemptive: they don't hit the lottery; aren't left millions by a dead aunt; or marry a rich suitor. And the ending here is a bit short, trite. But they usually come through the film a little stronger having weathered their travails, feeling a little better about themselves. I dare say we come through feeling a little better about ourselves as well. April 27, 2000

Humor in socio-political contrasts.

The "American" subtitles (necessary due to the thickness of the various working-class U.K. accents) provide a very interesting view into this culture; although the plot is a tad thin, the film stands on its own through sheer hilarity of British labor-class machinations.I hope the DVD version comes out soon. April 13, 2000

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