KNEECAP |
★★★★★
7 July 2024
A movie review of KNEECAP.
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Director: Rich Peppiatt
Starring: Liam Óg “Mo Chara” Ó Hannaidh, Naoise “Móglaí Bap” Ó Cairealláin, JJ “DJ Próvaí” Ó Dochartaigh, Fionnuala Flaherty, Josie Walker, Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds, Michael Fassbender.
“You stand for f*ck all,” Arlo Ó Cairealláin (Michael Fassbender)
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS [2008] meets 8 MILE [2002] meets BRAVEHEART [1995]. There is so much energy and so many ideas that KNEECAP is not easily pigeonholed. It is a breath of fresh air. The filmmaking dynamism requires a second watch, preferably on Blu-ray – to be able to pause and rewind, to read the screen annotations and take in the break-neck dialogue.
Starring: Liam Óg “Mo Chara” Ó Hannaidh, Naoise “Móglaí Bap” Ó Cairealláin, JJ “DJ Próvaí” Ó Dochartaigh, Fionnuala Flaherty, Josie Walker, Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds, Michael Fassbender.
“You stand for f*ck all,” Arlo Ó Cairealláin (Michael Fassbender)
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS [2008] meets 8 MILE [2002] meets BRAVEHEART [1995]. There is so much energy and so many ideas that KNEECAP is not easily pigeonholed. It is a breath of fresh air. The filmmaking dynamism requires a second watch, preferably on Blu-ray – to be able to pause and rewind, to read the screen annotations and take in the break-neck dialogue.
Music-making, drug-dealing, biting politics – a heady combination. KNEECAP has peril and stakes, with violence hanging over the two young protagonists. Though, somehow navigates the threats to always remain fun, without diminishing the observations the film is so angry about. That is skill!
The trio in the group, Kneecap, play versions of themselves. Context delivery and narrative propulsion are not easy bedfellows. KNNECAP has a narrator, one of the rappers, Mo Chara (Liam Óg “Mo Chara” Ó Hannaidh), that does not feel like a lazy storytelling device. He is a helpful aid to navigate history and topics not everyone will be familiar with, and to give welcome colour and perspective. The narrator is not objective, and why should he be? The voice-over is like the rest of the movie: cheeky and searing.
KNEECAP focuses on Irish language rappers, using them to talk about multiple issues. The opening is a montage of the habitual images of Belfast and the Troubles. The meta start sets out immediately the film’s intelligent self-awareness. Hip-hop in the Irish language is at first laughed at and then taken seriously. Before we get to the music, we have Michael Fassbender’s Arlo, father to Móglaí Bap (played by Naoise “Móglaí Bap” Ó Cairealláin) telling the younger versions of the rappers to watch westerns but from the perspective of the Native Americans. Immediately KNEECAP sets out its stall in solidarity with repressed indigenous peoples around the world. Sly wit, asides, allegory, and jokes are used to talk about important stuff, such as intergenerational trauma.
The story takes place predominately in 2019. (Why then? I do not know enough about the band Kneecap to be aware of the significance of that year. Maybe setting a story pre-pandemic sidesteps Covid-19 being added into the mix. Are creatives still trying to wrestle with its aftermath and implications?) We see how Mo and Móglaí get together with JJ, a teacher and musician who eventually goes by DJ Próvaí (JJ “DJ Próvaí” Ó Dochartaigh). The police interrogation scene bringing them together is a riotous doozy. Kneecap channels provocativeness with substance and humour. A potent mix. Words as righteous weapons in the right mouths. I want to buy their music.
KNEECAP is not just male swagger, the female characters are equally bolshy. Caitlin (Fionnuala Flaherty), Georgia (Jessica Reynolds), and Dolores (Simone Kirby) are charismatically, electrically combative.
KNEECAP is a heady mix of the vibrant, hysterical, and activist. It is cutting, cynical, but also hopeful.
If TRAINSPOTTING [1996] was about colonialism, you’d get close to what this is like.
