Riff-Raff

Except for his segment of Tickets, this is my first Ken Loach film.  Stevie, a laborer and a squatter, and his co-workers go through a series of episodes that explore working-class life.  A splendid piece of social commentary, speckled with rewarding moments of comedy.  The actors are all strong (particularly Robert Carlyle in the lead, but they all do a great job), and the characters they portray are personable and believable.  I wouldn’t call this a brilliant masterpiece or anything, but it was quite enjoyable on several levels.  However, the accents made it difficult to understand a lot of the dialogue.  Also, Stewart Copeland’s music is good, but seemed inappropriate to me.  I think it would have been a better film without any score.  Rating: 8

IMDb