This is one of those cases where you should believe the hype.
To those not rigorously keeping up with all things movies and music, the new film Kneecap – focusing on the much-discussed Belfast-based hip-hop trio of the same name – may appear to be a documentary. In fact, it’s something way more fascinating and ambitious.
The film is actually a biopic that sees the bandmates play themselves. It details how they came together to not only become the first major Irish language rap group, but also unconventional activists for Irish language rights in Northern Ireland.
There’s a twist though, however. The movie has been described as a “semi-fictionalised” take on the trio’s origin story. This is because writer-director Rich Peppiatt (making his dramatic feature debut) weaves the group’s formation into a multi-faceted tale that may not be true to real-life but is true to the spirit of Kneecap’s anarchic and political music.
If that sounds overly complex or too artsy, we can assure you the end project is anything but. The film is fast-paced, wickedly clever and deliriously fun. Quite frankly, it’s the best Irish movie of 2024 to date and one of the best of the year – period.
Kicking off with an infectious thrilling energy that is the closest a film has come to replicating what director Danny Boyle accomplished with Trainspotting, we learn about Liam Óg ‘Mo Chara’ Ó Hannaidh and Naoise ‘Móglaí Bap’ Ó Cairealláin. They are two young men from Catholic backgrounds living in Belfast in 2019 who can’t stay out of trouble – committing petty crimes, sometimes as a form of protest against the British government and sometimes out of boredom.
Looming over them is the spectre of Móglaí Bap’s father Arlo (a terrific Michael Fassbender), an IRA man laying low after faking his death. He taught the young boys Irish and about being socially conscious. “Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet for Irish freedom,” he constantly tells them, while in one particularly great scene he encourages the young boys to watch classic Westerns but from the perspective of the Native American characters.
When Mo Chara winds up getting picked up by the PSNI, he will only speak to the officers interrogating him in Irish – forcing the cops to track down local music teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh to serve as a translator as Gaeilge. Catching a glimpse of Mo Chara’s notebook filled with Irish spoken word musings, JJ later approaches him and Móglaí Bap about putting the poetry to his beats. The trio soon begin performing together, with JJ hiding his identity – his school wouldn’t like him associated with Kneecap’s controversial, confrontational lyrics after all – by wearing a tricolour balaclava and calling himself DJ Próvaí.
As Kneecap try to make it seriously as artists and start piercing through to the mainstream, they run afoul of people on all sides: an overzealous PSNI detective (Josie Walker) with a personal grudge against the band; the Irish paramilitary group Radical Republicans Against Drugs that take issue with the group’s lyrics about narcotics; radio censors with the same issue; and other activists for the Irish language – including DJ Próvaí’s girlfriend Caitlin (Fionnuala Flaherty) – who believe the trio to be irresponsible figureheads for the movement.
Given the band’s political music and outspoken nature – qualities that have led them to clash with the UK Government – their movie was always going to address contemporary societal issues. And indeed, the film is seriously grappling with a bunch of weighty topics such as the lingering effects of the Troubles; how the conflict impacted the generation that came immediately after it; the relationship between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland now; the importance of freedom of speech; and how music has the power to unify people in spite of efforts from self-interested parties to stop this from happening.
Thankfully though, the movie explores these notions in a way which never feels like a lecture. On one level, this is down to Peppiatt’s script which consistently finds clever ways of making the political feel personal. This is through such additions as Michael Fassbender’s father character and the almost Romeo and Juliet-esque plot-line regarding Mo Chara’s relationship with a Protestant woman named Georgia (a scene-stealing Jessica Reynolds) – two people who disagree with each other about a lot but can’t keep away from one another regardless.
But most importantly, Peppiatt just imbues the movie with so much life and vitality. The direction is constantly propulsive and inventive. Every time the central trio are shown performing their music, the filmmaker finds some unique way of capturing it cinematically – keeping proceedings from ever feeling repetitive. On top of this, the movie deploys a variety of different techniques – fourth-wall breaking narration, kinetic montages, ace needle drops, cool animation and flashy subtitle graphics – all of which combined serve to create the effect that there is always something fascinating happening on-screen.
The screenplay is just chock-a-block with funny situations and zingers – with gags ranging from satirical (how all Belfast-set films start with a montage of Troubles-era violence, how artists actually generate very little money through streaming) to delightfully off-kilter (quips about The Beatles and also the animated series The Wombles). It helps too that the Kneecap trio are surprisingly adept when it comes to acting – being able to both deliver rat-a-tat dialogue and handle the more heartfelt moments.
Just a few weeks ago, it was announced that the Kneecap film has been chosen as Ireland’s official submission for next year’s Academy Awards. Having seen it, JOE can confirm it’s a great choice and that the chance of it securing an Oscar nomination feels like a real possibility.
Kneecap is in UK cinemas now.
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