Workers of the world unite with these classic films for Labor Day

Few films have clocked the dystopian trajectory of capitalism quite like this surreal and devastating black comedy from first-time director Boots Riley (who first gained notoriety as a political rapper and front man for the hip-hop group The Coup). It stars Atlanta’s Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green (as in “cash is green”), a telemarketer faced with compromising his principles—and even his own identity—when he’s offered a windfall promotion at a company that trades in human exploitation. But it’s Steven Yuen’s character Squeeze who’s the real working man’s hero here. He organizes the company’s low-level workforce into a union and initiates a work stoppage to call for better compensation and working conditions. We also get the bonus gift of Tessa Thompson as a “fiery” artist whose every aesthetic choice is political (her succession of statement earrings is one of the film’s best ongoing gags). It’s not really possible to do justice to the savage imagination of with a simple plot synopsis, though, as the bizarre turns it takes are too good to spoil. You just have to see it for yourself.