the first thing that hit me about " twentyfourseven " was the starkness of the black and white film and the bareness of the sets . that combined with the film's slow pacing and simple plot make the first half of the film feel very long . at the center of " twentyfourseven " is bob hoskins as darcy , a middle-aged man from a relatively rural area in england . although not an obvious leader , darcy finds the motivation within himself to open a boxing club for the local youth . it is his impression that this club , like the one he had as a teen , will restore camaraderie and pride to the troubled lads . with its simple no-budget look , the film seems to have little going for it on first glance . the often documentary-type camera movements , intermittent jump cuts , and sometimes peculiar shooting angles could contribute to an impression that first time feature film director shane meadows is not quite ready for such a large scale project . around the middle of the film though , we begin to see what meadows is trying to show us . his film is not an epic . it is a character study of a small town and how one man in that town tries to deal with its problems . with little plot to concern him , meadows prefers to dwell on character development and how the relationships between darcy and the lads develop . the lack of production values , the slow pacing , and the leisurely plot allow meadows to dwell exclusively on these relationships without distracting the audience . ironically , the film's major flaw may be that it spends too much time chronicling the rise and fall of hoskins' darcy , and not enough time letting us get to know the other characters . the plot is inconsequential . the power of the movie comes in how it paints for us a scene of a society and a people we have never met , yet after 100 minutes come to feel intimately familiar with . " twentyfourseven " is a strong character picture , and could not have succeeded without excellent performances by hoskins , in his most complex role yet , and a strong supporting cast of relative newcomers led by danny nussbaum as tim . meadows substitutes passion and energy for his lack of experience in making this film . in the end , he gives us a telling view of his own youth . 
