Kneecap

Another unusual and effective 2024 spin on the dreaded musical biopic genre, Kneecap chronicles the rise of a Belfast hip-hop trio who rap in their native Irish. While hardly as fresh and original as it wants to be—this feels like a hybrid of The Commitments, Danny Boy, Trainspotting, and 8-Mile (not that that's a bad thing)—this is a lively and entertaining film. Part of what makes Kneecap unique is that it stars the actual band members as themselves, which I didn't realize while watching the movie. My assumption that this was an entirely fictional film was in part because so much of the story follows the standard lets-start-a-band musical and musical biopic formulas, with a number of shortcuts. I also reached this false conclusion because of the presence of some stars on the Irish screen, like Josie Walker (Belfast, The Wonder) and Michael Fassbender (well-used playing the martyred father of one of the lads).

The film gleefully extols the virtues of hard drugs, rough sex, and the dark web, delights in fuck-the-pigs style antiauthoritarianism, and effectively draws a connection between how the creation of hip-hop empowered African-Americans and what rapping in the native tongue banned by colonizers can do for the minority of Irish speakers in Northern Ireland. The screenplay by first-time director Rich Peppiatt, who previously directed music videos for the band, starts out strong but waffles a bit in the middle. Still, the ending has a lot of energy, and it's not hard to get behind the message (and the messengers). Once the credits rolled and I realized this was a true story starring the actual folks, I suddenly liked it a whole lot more. Good pals and self-confessed "low life scum" Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (aka Mo Chara) and Naoise Ó Cairealláin (aka Móglaí Bap) and their masked DJ, JJ Ó Dochartaigh (aka DJ Próvaí), a former music teacher at an Irish-language elementary school who started wearing a balaclava at early gigs in case any of his students recognized him, all convinced me they were actors. I also dug their music, which is not inconsequential.