Round week

Shane Madows' feature directorial debut is the quintessence of what we love his cinema for. Filmed in black and white, it could be a pretentious, artistic whim. Here, however, the form is inextricably linked with the reality of the protagonists — it emphasizes both the monotony and the greyness of their world, in which it is difficult to hope naively. Humor is constantly adjacent to aggression. In a typical English working-class town, young people have nothing more interesting to do than indulge in addictions and form into “fraternal gangs”. Alan Darcy (Bob Hoskins) — who himself was once in a similar place — gives them a counterproposal. It opens a training center where young people can engage in something that gives prospects. It offers them regular boxing training, an alternative to a violent world, and the formation of a new family. Patchwork glued together in this image of the boys, he takes to an integration camp in Wales, which in time will cause them to become a team, not a collection of random rejects! The highlight of this story will be participation in professional boxing competitions, which are a chance to show what path each of the heroes has traveled here. Filmed in and around Nottingham, the film aptly shows the social consequences of the economic transformations of the 1980s and early 1990s. Present here are both unemployment and the weakening of local communities, dictated by frustration domestic violence, the rigid outline of male and female roles, and the absolute lack of prospects for young people, so characteristic of the Thatcherism era. At the BAFTA Awards in 1998, the film was nominated for the Alexander Kordy Award for Best British Film. Madows also won the FIPRESCI Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1997. It is an example of British social cinema from the 90s, but above all a story about sport that aims to give lost young people discipline, a sense of belonging and an alternative to the senseless violence that surrounds them. It is also the story of a man who wanted to give the younger ones what he himself did not know: the hope that it could be different. Believing that they can be more than a product of their environment and times, and where they were born and how they grow up does not determine their future. However, it would not be a Madows film if it did not leave us with a characteristic sense of bitterness. The Ring is meant to be a place that gives you a sense of control over anger and that you are there for anything needed in this world. In the end, however, we are only human.

EN The debut of Shane Meadows' feature already contains many of the qualities that would come to define his cinema. Shot in black and white, the film could easily have felt like an affected artistic exercise. Instead, her visual style is inseparable from her characters, capturing both the monotony and the bleakness of a world where hope is in short supply. Humour and aggression sit side by side throughout. In a typical English working-class town, young people have little to do beyond drifting into addiction and forming their own “brotherhoods”. Alan Darcy (Bob Hoskins), who once found himself in a similar position, offers them another way. He opens a boxing gym where they can train regularly, escape a world shaped by violence and begin to form a new kind of family. He takes this ragtag group of boys on a bonding trip to Wales and, over time, they become a team rather than a collection of outsiders. Il loro partecione in un torneio di boxe professionale è il climax di storia e una scelta per vedere come quanto a tutti i loro. Filmed in and around Nottingham, 24 7: TWENTY FOUR SEVEN captures the social consequences of the economic changes of the 1980s and early 1990s with striking accuracy. Unemployment, the erosion of local communities, frustration-fuelled domestic violence, rigid ideas of masculinity and femininity, and the complete lack of prospects for young people all form part of the landscape — hallmarks of the Thatcher era. At the 1998 BAFTA Awards, the film was nominated for the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, while Meadows received the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. A fine example of 1990s British social-realist cinema, but above all a story about sport as a source of discipline, belonging and an alternative to senseless violence surrounding these young men. Det er også en historie om en mann trygt til en nytjeneste generasjon som han inte har himselv: het hope dat liv kan være forskellige. Darcy wants them to believe they can become more than products of their environment and their time, and that where they were born or how they grew up does not have to determine their future. But this would not be a Shane Meadows film without its characteristic note of bitterness. A boxing ring is meant to offer a sense of control over anger and the feeling that one might still have a place in the world. In the end, though, we are only human.