COMIC DRAMA; 1hr 42min (English and Irish with subtitles)
STARRING: Naoise Ó Cairealláin (stage name Móglaí Bap), Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (stage name Mo Chara), JJ Ó Dochartaigh (stage name DJ Próvaí), Michael Fassbender
Running lines: clockwise from left, JJ, Naiose, Liam and Naiose
West Belfast 2019 and the feral energy of writer-director Rich Peppiatt’s debut feature roars at you out of the gate. At issue is the right of Irish people to speak their native language, which might sound dry as dust but is juicy as can be when mild-mannered Irish language teacher JJ falls in with drug-dealing wild boys Naoise and Liam Óg (who, like JJ, do a dead cool job of playing themselves). “Irish is the last dodo stuck behind glass,” JJ declares — and he of all people should know. “Someone needs to smash that glass.”
With that aim in mind, the trio joins forces in JJ’s garage, where the Irish hip-hop rush of Kneecap is born via incendiary lyrics, a truckload of mind-altering substances and three snappy stage names. Kneecap amped to the rapping max onstage is dynamism unleashed. Audiences and hot girls love them but their rebel yells were always destined to infuriate conservatives, of which closet rebel JJ is supposed to be one — hence the statement-making camouflage of his performance balaclava. This dichotomy does nothing for either JJ’s peace of mind or the health of his marriage. Fassbender, meanwhile, skulks in and out of the picture as a rebel on the permanent run and Naoise’s elusive father.
Civil rights are always won at a cost. Peppiatt has found a sweet spot between the manic and the meaningful with his glass-smashing champions of Irish free speech, who not only rock a mean stage but romped home with the Audience Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival by pouring their gnarly hearts into every blazing minute.
