TwentyFourSeven
In his directorial debut, Shane Meadows targets Margaret Thatcher's
socio-economic legacy by illuminating its ill repercussions in England's urban
housing projects. Bob Hoskins gives a rich performance as Alan Darcy, a
self-appointed social advocate who opens a boxing club to provide the
neighborhood's dissolute youth with a safe haven. Employing tough love and
preaching the discipline of self-control, both in and out of the ring, Darcy
reaches out to the troubled lads and gives them a spark of hope while
exorcising the demons from his own cloudy past. The melodrama rolls along
predictably until the climatic boxing match, when the pressure of cynicism
uncorks and Darcy registers as the most self-destructive of the lot.
Shot in gritty black and white, TwentyFourSeven is a fantastic-looking
picture; what undoes the film is its languorous tempo, absence of character
development, and dyslexic narrative. Meadows demonstrates enough stylish muscle
to be a contender -- he's just not ready to go the distance as a storyteller.
At the Harvard Square.
-- Tom Meek
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