Film Review - Kneecap
Images courtesy of Madman Entertainment.
Kneecap follows a fictionalised origin of the Irish rap group Kneecap, pioneered by brothers Liam Óg and Naoise Ó Hannaidh. Liam and Naoise are two 20-something Belfast residents raised to speak Irish and to be general nuisances to imperial British rule by their Republican father Arló (Michael Fassbender), who has been absent from their family after faking his death. Following questioning by British police over drug possession, the two come into contact with music teacher and fellow Irish speaker JJ Ó Dochartaigh. Together, the three share a common interest in pursuing cultural Irish freedom through song, forming the rap group Kneecap, so named for a noteworthy gang punishment in Belfast. Primarily rapping in Irish, the trio take on stage names - Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvai - and attract equal controversy and fame with their outlandish antics and protest against British rule.
It is difficult, if not borderline impossible, to discuss Kneecap without also referencing the band the film is based upon, who play themselves in the film. Far from a hypothetical reflective biopic on artists long since passed, Kneecap has never been more popular worldwide than they are right now. An unfortunate consequence of this is that the film is rather subservient to their stardom and image, and bizarrely quite banal in a formal sense. Scenes of the trio getting high are shot in a fairly unimaginative and unoriginal manner. There is an attempted juxtaposition against the sobering scenes of Belfast suburbia with the “getting high” scenes but they both feel fairly normal - certainly the latter is what you would expect if you've ever seen a clubbing scene in any movie ever. Ultimately, the film itself exists as a mere showcase of their talents and performance, so as a film it’s somewhat unremarkable, but as a showcase of its leads it’s quite interesting.
Despite how banal and formally uninteresting the film’s direction is, I don't feel this extends whatsoever to the writing and performances. To contextualise this, the film The 15:17 to Paris (dir. Clint Eastwood, 2018) - based on the true story of three military veterans vacationing in Europe who thwarted a terrorist attack on a train - is a helpful comparative. The film stars the actual veterans as themselves, telling their expansive story from childhood to the attack. I won't get into the finer details of the film's commentary and writing, but what's important to know here is that the three leads of 15:17 are terrible at acting. My worry going into Kneecap was that it would be a similar situation. Helped slightly by the fact that the trio are already in a performing profession, they are fantastic, especially JJ Ó Dochartaigh, who is so great at this that I had to google if it was in fact DJ Próvai himself (Próvai wears a balaclava coloured as the Irish tricolour). The Hannaidh brothers are great too - their hilarious delinquent and defiant attitude is at all times endearing. The brother’s delinquency-as-protest ensures that the film’s commentary on Irish self-determination is moderately strong and earnest. Mo Chara and Móglai Bap are not perfect individuals, with their excessive abrasiveness to everyone around them a symptom of Irish discrimination. It’s a quite layered portrayal and easily the film’s strong point, amongst its myriad of protest imagery. The flag of Palestine is shown in an establishing shot, in keeping with Kneecap’s own spirited allegiance to the cause they have demonstrated elsewhere.
Immediately after my screening of Kneecap ended, I revealed to my friend that I had already purchased tickets to their upcoming performance in Melbourne. In a way, I feel this is emblematic of the entire film, with seeming and occasionally dull subservience to the subject matter that nonetheless thrives on it. It's no surprise that the concert scenes of the film are the highlights, and these scenes are where the direction - otherwise constantly promising yet not-quite-there - is in full force. There’s a sentiment throughout Kneecap that the film simply “does the job”, and though it’s technically uninteresting it is nonetheless swinging in the right direction.
Follow Malachy on Letterboxd and Instagram.
Kneecap is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.