Kneecap (2024)
26KKneecap (2024). 1h 45m | R
“I went to the Cineworld Secret Screening last night which turned out to be u0026quot;Kneecapu0026quot;. Iu0026#39;d seen the trailer, so was aware of the film, though I was wholly unaware that Kneecap are a real band, nor that the actors in it were playing themselves.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs one of a small number of Irish speakers in Belfast, JJ O Dochartaigh is called into a police meeting as an interpreter, where he meets Liam Og O Hannaidh who is pretending that he only speaks Irish to annoy Detective Ellis (Josie Walker). JJ sees a book of hip-hop lyrics, written in Irish, by Liam and his friend Naoise O Cairaellain. A music teacher, and in a relationship with an advocate for the Irish language, JJ sees the potential for using music to increase awareness. When the trio start to perform, they quickly gain a following, but the content of their lyrics makes them enemies in both the police, and with a dissident republican organisation that are against the promotion of drug use in the city.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Kneecapu0026quot; is quite the film to show to a group that arenu0026#39;t expecting it. Approximately a quarter of the audience in my screening left within the first 25 minutes, driven away by the explicit drug use, swearing and sex scenes as well as – letu0026#39;s face it – the most egregious problem for some people, subtitles. They missed a film I quite enjoyed (largely because of all those reasons Iu0026#39;ve just mentioned) but also because, despite the idea of people playing themselves in films being fraught with disaster (15:17 to Paris) the boys here actually do really well. So much so I couldnu0026#39;t believe that they were the actual guys and not full-time actors. There are professional actors in the other roles though, none more high profile than Michael Fassbender, who plays Naoiseu0026#39;s father.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s a genuinely funny film, that treats its subject matter with a light touch and tells a complete story. Comfortably the best of the musical biopics Iu0026#39;ve seen this year.”
