Kneecap ★★★1/2 (out of 4 stars)
Which side of the table are you on?
Liam, a teenager, sits in a Belfast police interrogation room refusing to speak English. Called in to translate is high school music teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh, one of the 12% of Northern Irish who speak the Irish language. The police are (to put it mildly) unsympathetic to the teen’s demand that he be interrogated only in Irish, and Liam is reluctant to talk even to JJ. “What side of the table are you on?” he asks the teacher/translator. Able to speak to each other without the police knowing what’s said, the two form an unexpected alliance, with JJ spiriting away Liam’s notebook, which turns out to be a trove of poetry—or lyrics. This complex early scene introduces the divide between Republicans (those who want Northern Ireland to be part of Ireland) and Unionists (those viewing Northern Ireland as part of Britain), the politicization of language, and drugs (there’s a sheet of MDMA or ecstasy in the notebook). Serious as it is, the scene also has moments of humor, anticipating the film to come.
In short order Liam (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh), JJ, and Liam’s friend Naoise (Naoise Ó Cairealláin), the son of an IRA paramilitary who has been underground for 10 years, form a raucous hip-hip trio, based on JJ’s knowledge of music and his access to recording equipment and, most of all, Liam’s notebook lyrics. The words of the songs will be mostly incomprehensible to an American audience, even when in English rather than Irish. It doesn’t matter. The performances are joyful, energetic, and funny, made more so by a creative production (with a budget of only $5 million) and by the characters, who play themselves.
While the film follows some of the classic trajectory of “will the band make it big?”, that’s not the central theme or point of this unusual take on the music biopic genre. Instead, it immerses the audience in the world of the “Ceasefire generation,” who came of age after the decades-long mortal conflict called the “Troubles,” and who, as one of the young men points out, have their own troubles. The political drama also follows the drive to enact a bill that would give the Irish language equal status with English in Northern Ireland. (It was passed as the Identity and Language Act of 2022.)
The hip-hop group is irreverent, to say the least. They perform(ed) mostly drugged and stoned. Their lyrics are replete with references to drugs and sex, laced with four-letter words. At one point, DJ Próvai, who hides his identity (and a deep commitment to the Irish language that even he may not fully understand) behind a green, white, and orange knitted balaclava, drops his trousers on stage to reveal “BRITS” on one buttock, “OUT” on the other. And, yes, it’s laugh-out-loud funny.
A bit of controversy is ginned up when the leader of the movement behind the Irish Language Act, the teacher’s wife Caitlin (Fionnuala Flaherty)—in the dark about her husband’s role in the group (supposedly: “did you think I didn’t recognize your fine bum?”)—tells the young men their offensive antics aren’t helping the cause. The they have gone from playing in a pub in front of a few old codgers to packed outdoor stadiums. When the radio station censors their music, the campaign to get them on the air brings even more attention—to them and their political cause.
The “British Advisory…Irish Language” is a sign of what’s to come. The three hip hop group members, who rap in the Irish language, play themselves. Left to right, using their stage names, are Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh), Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin), and DJ Próvai(JJ Ó Dochartaigh).
There’s a subplot love story with the standard, together-apart-together arc, featuring Liam and Protestant Georgia (Jessica Reynolds). Their wild sex has them yelling “North of Ireland”/”Northern Ireland,” respectively, at each other as they come. And there are bad guys, not just the “peelers” (the police), but also fellow Republicans, in this case Radical Republicans Against Drugs (RRAD), protagonists of a subplot that doesn’t quite work. A crisis at JJ’s recording studio has the feel of a contrived, script-driven diversion. Naoise’s father, Arlo (a fine, small performance by Michael Fassbender) comes in from the cold to do some kneecapping (the trio named themselves after this particular kind of torture, common during the Troubles). Aside from the kneecapping, most of the violence is of the Wile E. Coyote variety—of little consequence—consistent with the script’s overall tone.
Arlo’s wife Delores (Simone Kirby) has become a recluse since her husband’s disappearance. Her isolation and then emergence into the world in support of her son is a tender rendering of one consequence of the Troubles.
The creativity of the film is a joy to experience. Director and writer Rich Peppiatt, in his first narrative feature, has a lot in his toolbox; scribbled lyrics on the screen, action-figures, Claymation, and superimposed images (the promoter’s head becomes a boombox) enliven the production.
This is a rich, busy, sometimes frenetic, sometimes poignant work, a potpourri of music, drugs, social realism, raunchy sex, comic and real violence, and political issues of class, identify, and nationalism. This Irish submission for an Oscar and the first Irish-language entry at Sundance is remarkably successful at combining those elements, leavening its serious underpinnings with irony and humor while generally avoiding the preachy and didactic. In the current drought of worthy Hollywood films, “Kneecap” may be a first step in restoring faith in the movies.
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She said: The most fun I’ve had at the movies since “Barbie.”
He said: Fun, for sure, but to be a great film it needs to take the issues it deals with more seriously.
Date: 2024
Stars: 3.5 (out of 4)
Director: Richard Peppiatt
Starring: Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh (as themselves), Michael Fassbender, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds, Simone Kirby
Country: Ireland
Language: English and Irish English (Irish Gaelic), the latter subtitled in English
Runtime: 105 minutes
Other Awards: 4 wins (including the NEXT Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival) and 3 other nominations
Availability: Showing widely in theaters nationally. Streaming expected on HBO November 25, 2024. See JustWatch here for updated streaming information.
Lead image: Heading up to a gig are the three Kneecap members (and characters in this music biopic,). Left to right, Mo Chara (Liam Ó Hannaidh), DJ Próvai (JJ Ó Dochartaigh), disguised in his Irish-flag-colored knit balaclava, and Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin).
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