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Ken Loach's Riff Raff is set on a construction site where a hospital is being gutted to make way for condos for the upper-middle class. Stevie, a Scottish ex-con, takes a job at the site where he encounters an odd assortment of characters who, like him, are looking for a new lease on life. Unable to afford rent on a flat, Stevie's co-workers set him up in a squat not far from the job site. On the job, scams abound as the workers desperately try to make ends meet. Stevie's luck takes a turn for the better when he meets Susan, an aspiring singer with plenty of moxie but little talent. Stevie and Susan find solace from their troublesome lives in each other but their relationship is not enough to overcome the powerful social momentum of their class. Loach and his superb cast, all experienced construction workers themselves, manage to capture the humor that makes working-class life bearable without dulling the biting social commentary that's the film's central message.