The movie Kneecap is the first I’d heard of the Northern Ireland hip hop group that gives the film its name, so I have no idea at all whether any particular part of the movie is true, but, hey, print the legend, right? It’s not often you get a biopic made about you when your act isn’t even a decade old, but it’s pretty obvious why these guys did—their story, whatever the reality, is a little wild, very unlikely, and kind of important at this moment in time.
Plus, in the movie they play themselves, and you can’t wait much longer if you’re going to do that, or else you’ll have a bunch of old men running around playing 20-year-olds… not that that’s stopped anyone before, but it probably should have. The trio performs in Irish, the indigenous language spoken by only a relatively few people, and their rise coincided with a push to make the British government recognize Irish as an official language of Northern Ireland, a movement also wrapped up in the complicated and deadly politics of the region. And those politics play a major role in Kneecap’s music, too, as they rail against oppression by the British government and espouse republican ideals.
Director Rich Peppiatt gives the movie a hard-charging energy that’s consistently entertaining, and it’s often surprising how unflattering events are as the group is forming and finding its way, especially given how involved the musicians were in the making of the movie itself. They do not appear to have any concerns about looking bad, they are very much not superheroes here, and occasionally bits of their origin story have the dumbest possible explanation. But they are enthusiastic about their music, their language, and their drugs. The three men all give great performances, too—I had no clue they were playing themselves in the film until we got to the very end and I thought, “these guys are pretty good at pretending to perform all of this music,” and then it occurred to me to look up the actors, who weren’t actors. It’s a bold move for a biopic, but it’s one that pays off fantastically.
Kneecap is in theaters August 2nd.
