TwentyFourSeven = 24 7

TwentyFourSeven marks the screen debut of writer/director Shane Meadows with an assuredness and humour about working/under class people that is also to be a theme in subsequent films (“A Room for Romeo Brass”). Shot in black and white, the lack of colour adds to the washed-out public housing development in which unemployed families pass the time, time that does nothing to change their situations. Darcy (Bob Hoskins) fondly remembers in his youth that a boxing club gave him some hope, so he sets about combining the local gangs to form a youth club. Moments of humour in the script provide lighter distractions as the weight of the whole film and its import in post-Thatcher’s Britain can sit heavily with viewer. Among the failures and hopelessness, camaraderie and self-respect are not all lost along with demise of the club and Darcy’s descent into alcoholism. Great soundtrack, with a cast that includes: Frank Harper, Karl Collins, Bruce Jones and Danny Nussbaum. Co-written by Paul Fraser.