TwentyFourSeven

Director: Shane Meadows
Screenplay: Shane Meadows, Paul Fraser
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Danny Nussbaum, Justin Brady, James Hooton, Darren O. Campbell, Karl Collins, Johann Myers, Jimmy Hynd, Mat Hand, James Corden, Frank Harper, Bruce Jones, Jo Bell,
Country: UK
Running Time: 96m
Year: 1997

Long before This is England, Shane Meadows directed TwentyFourSeven, a fabulously scrappy little film about the unlikely friendship of working-class youths as they find purpose in a boxing club ran by Darcy (Bob Hoskins).

TwentyFourSeven would be a great film on its own merits, as are most of Meadows’ films. But Hoskins makes it very special. Apparently the part was written by Meadows for him, yet he had no need to do it. He is the film’s drive, and its anchor. He bears his soul in a phenomenal performance. Based on a real person, he represents thousands more; the people who step-up to help their communities, just because it’s the right thing to do. The people who step-up without any hope of improving their own lot.

The rest of the cast are made up of up-and-coming actors, students really. I’ve always admired the pitch of these earthy, honest roles in Meadows’ films, sometimes peppered with improvisation. James Corden impresses in one of his earliest roles. James Hooton is great as the volatile Knighty and makes you wonder why he seems to have settled for multiple decades as an Emmerdale Dingle. Another soap star, Corrie’s Bruce Jones is memorable as a Meadows archetype; the cowardly bullying father figure. Frank Harper (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) feels a bit out of place with his cockney accent, but his confident comedic turn is great fun.

Speaking of accents, I’m always enamoured of Shane Meadows’ work because he’s made most of it around my home-town of Nottingham. A proper Midlands accent, me duck! Fun to hear it in film. Hoskins, bless him, wavers in his dialect efforts but that’s just further testament to his talent.

The story, like the performances, is allowed to wander a little in a mode of realism. It’s paced well, but in a satisfyingly indulgent manner, as the lives of the youths intersect. There’s several fantastic needle-drops and it’s a vibrant film throughout. The plot gathers within the ropes of Darcy’s boxing ring and centres on a match against another club.

It’s in the boxing scenes that Shane Meadows’ direction is at its most obviously brilliant. He’s a master of coaxing pathos out of seemingly inconsequential moments between characters, but the fight scenes really reveal his talent for composition and editing. Boxing scenes are tough to get right and these are extraordinary moments. The sparring remains organically part of the film, even though it would be easy to slip into set-pieces.

The violence isn’t restricted to the ring and, in the last act, there is a moment of sheer brutality. It’s jarring, where boxing isn’t so. There’s always such moments in Meadows’ films. It’s almost a sentimental tic for the narrative when it has to commit to resolving the plot. Regardless of how you feel about that scene, it does allow the film a wonderfully optimistic coda. Lives forever entwined by that boxing ring.

VIDEO

This is the first time TwentyFourSeven has been available on Blu-Ray and it’s great to see it in HD finally. The earthy, black and white image is beautifully rendered, but it’s also raw. The film feels like it has a life of its own, worn with an occasionally harsh contrast. The lack of detail in long shots only emphasises the intimacy of the framing. It looks fantastic. Aged, but timeless and never not relevant.

EXTRA FEATURES

The audio commentary by Nottingham critic Andrew Graves is a stand-out, but the feature length conversation with Meadows and Hoskins is wonderful. Also included by the every reliable eccentric side of the BFI is archive footage of amateur boxing in the 1920s. Only the BFI has footage to hand like this and all power to them randomly including it wherever they can.

• Newly remastered by the BFI and presented in High Definition
• Newly recorded audio commentary by Andrew Graves
• The Guardian Interview: Shane Meadows and Bob Hoskins (1997/2025, 79 mins)
• Ritchie, The World’s Light-Weight Boxing Champion (1914, 1 min): newsreel capturing Willie Ritchie’s victory over the incumbent light-weight champion Freddie Welsh
• Twelve Hours Punching (1924, 2 mins): amateur fighters trade blows at a variety of weights

during a boxing tournament at London’s Alexandra Palace

• Trailers (1997, 4 mins)