If you enjoy Bob Hoskins, you'll probably find sitting through Twenty Four Seven a worthwhile experience as I did.
The film isn't particularly memorable, however. It has little in it you have not seen before. There are a couple of brief moments which I found quite wonderful. But not enough to strongly recommend the film. My favorite is when Hoskins who has a crush on a young woman, sees her hand print on a counter and presses his own hand print on top of it. That I liked a lot. Unfortunately his obvious infatuation of the young lady never leads anywhere (which may be the point of course), but it's so subtle and so unrealized it barely registers. But there is that moment.
It takes a long time to get involved in the film. It concerns some poor working class youths in a nowhere town in England. Everyone there seems pretty miserable. Hoskins decides to revitalize the boxing club that kept him out of trouble when he was growing up and recruits several of the town's youths half of whom are quite reluctant. When the rich father of an out of shape kid puts a little money behind the project, some additional interest in the club leads to some publicity and a match with another town's boxing club. This does not go off very well at all. That's it. There are a few well directed scenes showing the relationships of a lad to his bully father. But because we don't care very much about any of the characters in the film the impact is dulled.
I can't praise the direction too highly because there are sequences that play like working class mtv videos. They would have worked at about one minute, but are allowed to continue for as long as the song lasts. The one to Van Morrisson works okay. but at nearly four minutes is too long. The others only hold together for brief amount of time before they get old. The music has more life than the images and narrative of the film and reminds us how lifeless the film really is.
Still, Hoskins is at times brilliant. His talent and presence is almost enough to sustain the entire film.
The film isn't particularly memorable, however. It has little in it you have not seen before. There are a couple of brief moments which I found quite wonderful. But not enough to strongly recommend the film. My favorite is when Hoskins who has a crush on a young woman, sees her hand print on a counter and presses his own hand print on top of it. That I liked a lot. Unfortunately his obvious infatuation of the young lady never leads anywhere (which may be the point of course), but it's so subtle and so unrealized it barely registers. But there is that moment.
It takes a long time to get involved in the film. It concerns some poor working class youths in a nowhere town in England. Everyone there seems pretty miserable. Hoskins decides to revitalize the boxing club that kept him out of trouble when he was growing up and recruits several of the town's youths half of whom are quite reluctant. When the rich father of an out of shape kid puts a little money behind the project, some additional interest in the club leads to some publicity and a match with another town's boxing club. This does not go off very well at all. That's it. There are a few well directed scenes showing the relationships of a lad to his bully father. But because we don't care very much about any of the characters in the film the impact is dulled.
I can't praise the direction too highly because there are sequences that play like working class mtv videos. They would have worked at about one minute, but are allowed to continue for as long as the song lasts. The one to Van Morrisson works okay. but at nearly four minutes is too long. The others only hold together for brief amount of time before they get old. The music has more life than the images and narrative of the film and reminds us how lifeless the film really is.
Still, Hoskins is at times brilliant. His talent and presence is almost enough to sustain the entire film.