Twentyfourseven

THE FULL MONTY took it all off; BRASSED OFF blew flugelhorns. Now, up-and-coming UK director Shane Meadows steps into the boxing ring, where a group of demoralized, working-class Brits find dignity and a sense of self-worth. In a dank and dying Midlands town, Alan Darcy (Bob Hoskins) has a bright idea: Why not start up a local boxing club so the lads will have a place to knock one another about while discovering their identities? Darcy is himself a casualty of the post-Thatcher recession and understands the kind of despondency that can lead to depression, drug addiction and alcoholism. Good thing, too -- Darcy has his hands full with this lot, and it's all he can d...