Riff-Raff

Name: Riff-Raff
Director: Ken Loach
Released: 1991

Ken Loach

working class struggle immigration and labor exploitation housing insecurity social welfare system criminal past and redemption

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Synopsis

Stevie, fresh from prison in Scotland, finds a job on a London construction site. The working conditions are poor and most of the men are working under aliases, due to immigration status and to not conflict with their "signing on" for unemployment benefits. Some coworkers help Stevie secure housing, squatting in a council estate. Then Stevie meets Susan, from Ireland, who's struggling to be a prof

Cinema Atlas Connection

The films of Ken Loach... I still go back to them. Kes, Riff-Raff, My Name is Joe – they're the ones I love.

We wanted to make a film that had the sense of people actually living, so we worked with a lot of non-professional actors and developed the script as we went along. This approach has its roots in Italian neorealism, in films like Bicycle Thieves, where the lives of ordinary people are depicted with such honesty.

— Ken Loach · Sight & Sound (originally published May 1991, archived on Mubi Notebook)

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