Kneecap Review

Kneecap is a biographical film about the Irish hip-hop group of the same name. This film stars the group as it looks at their rise as a group and their importance during the campaign to make Irish an official language in Northern Ireland.

Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh and Naoise Ó Cairealláin have been best friends since childhood and learned to assert their Irish identity, including being Irish speakers. Through a chance encounter with JJ Ó Dochartaigh, a music teacher at an Irish language school in Belfast, he convinces two youngers to become a hip-hop act. The group names themselves Kneecap, but as their reputation grows, they draw the ire of the police and Republican Paramilitaries.

Kneecap has been met with high praise. It won the NEXT award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, won awards at the Galway Film Fleadh, and was selected to be Ireland’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. It also came out after a mini-rise of Irish language films with The Quiet Girl and Tarrac being examples. The Quiet Girl was nominated for Best International Feature Film. Whilst The Quiet Girl and Tarrac were prestigious dramas, Kneecap was much more provocative.

Kneecap had a lot of backing. Some of the production companies involved were DMC Films (Michael Fassbender’s production company), Curzon Film (a major film distributor in the UK), and Wildcard Distribution (one of Ireland’s biggest film distributors). It was also backed by Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen, and the BFI. I find it funny that such an Irish Nationalist film required the backing of the British Film Institute and made Kneecap an Irish-British co-production.

Kneecap can be best described as Ireland’s Trainspotting. Both films had an anarchical, scattershot approach that was wildly stylish and funny. Like Trainspotting, Kneecap will likely gain a cult audience. I saw Kneecap as an Odeon Unseen screening and audiences usually leave if there are subtitles. Kneecap bucked that trend because an audience in a small town in England ended up enjoying the film a lot.

The film’s plot did go off in different directions. The core of the film was the trio’s musical development and rise, and there was a lot going on in the background. The backdrop of the film was the campaign for the Irish language, and the group had to face off against both the authorities within the police and the Nationalist community. The individual members of Kneecap had their personal stories. Liam’s father, Arlo (Michael Fassbender) was on the run because of his paramilitary past and his mother, Dolores (Simone Kirby) had become a recluse. Naoise was in a relationship with Georgia (Jessica Reynolds), an attractive Protestant woman, and JJ tried to hide his musical career because of his day job. Despite all these storylines some of them did intersect even if it required dramatic convenience.

Kneecap was able to juggle these storylines by making sure it was moved at a brisk pace and had a lot of energy. There were minimal slow moments in the film. There were a lot of visual flourishes throughout the film because of all the text that was put on screen. It was a genuinely funny film with an edgy quality to the humour. There was plenty of drug-related humour and Liam and Georgia insulted each other’s communities during their lovemaking.

Kneecap acknowledges that the general perception of Belfast and Northern Ireland is violence, paramilitarism, and sectarianism. Even recent successes like Derry Girls and Belfast looked at these issues. Kneecap was set after the Good Friday Agreement and Liam and Naoise were Ceasefire Babies, a generation that grew up with peace. There were still issues since Liam and Naoise were drug dealers and a part of the rave scene. Liam and Naoise suffered from the issues that many working-class lads have, like deprivation, unemployment, and harassment by the police. This was a film about fighting a cultural battle instead of using violence. Paramilitaries and former paramilitaries were called out for their actions. My view is the DUP’s opposition to the Irish Language Act was a pointless endeavour since Welsh, Scots, Gaelic, and Cornish are official languages in Great Britain. The DUP has done more for Irish Nationalism in Northern Ireland than the Nationalist Parties because of their dogma.

Whilst Kneecap’s characters were Nationalists, the film did acknowledge there were nuances to the debate. Kneecap had a simplified message of ‘Brits Out,’ Georgia did point out she was born and grew up in Northern Ireland and Liam had to explain that he meant the British state, not people.

Kneecap marked the acting debut for the trio and they gave strong performances. Performers playing themselves doesn’t always guarantee success: Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and The 15:17 to Paris were proof of this. Ó Dochartaigh was particularly strong because he had an everyman look and it was easy to picture him in sitcoms, British panel shows, and Taskmaster. Fassbender offered star power and he rarely gives a bad performance and Kirby is a seasoned professional. Reynolds showed herself to be a promising young performer and I thought she was like Michelle from Derry Girls if she was a Protestant. It turned out Reynolds played the young version of Michelle’s mum in the episode “The Reunion.”

Kneecap was a great comedy that had a lot of spirit and substance. It’s likely to become a cult classic across the British Isles.