Jawbone

This is the small-time, replete with unforgiving glare and hostile punters.

As a writing debut for Harris and a feature-directing debut for Napper, this is extremely promising. As a role for Harris, it's a sign that a great British actor may have just hit his moment.

The familiar boxing movie trajectory doesn't lessen the forceful punch of this underdog story.

Jawbone is an odd hybrid of gritty British drama, character study, and sports movie. It develops so slowly that it's almost a surprise to see protagonist Jimmy suddenly climb into the boxing ring for a proper fight.