Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
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Stevie, a young Glaswegian just out of Barlinnie prison, comes to London and gets a job on a building site - a melting pot of itinerant labourers from around the country. Here he has to contend with Mick, the bossy ganger, trying but usually failing to control his workers, Shem, Mo and Larry and the other lads as they duck and dive the rules and regulations of the building trade. Stevie has other problems to contend with: the wages are low, the site swarms with rats, he has nowhere to sleep and life in London isn't that easy. One day, on his way to work, Stevie finds a handbag in a skip. He takes it back to its owner and meets Susan. As Stevie and Susan learn to live with the ups and downs of life in London, RIFF RAFF builds a portrait - sometimes gritty, often funny of life as it is lived in the margins.The master for this film has been retrieved from Film4 library's extensive archive. The film was originally mastered for playback on the VHS machines and the standard definition televisions of the time. The quality will not be as good as a film which has been digitally re-mastered to be shown on high definition wide screens. We have opened up our archive, in order that films which might not otherwise be on release on any format, are available for dedicated film enthusiasts who want the opportunity to watch them.
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This disc is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.
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