Kneecap
Riotously entertaining comedy about the anarchic Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap. After the release of this film, Kneecap has grown into a world-renowned act.
We first meet the members of Belfast rap group Kneecap in the 2010s as drug-selling besties. More importantly, they’re staunch patriots who speak Irish as an act of cultural maintenance, and in defiance of British imperialism. When nerdy music teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh enters the scene, he encourages the lads to turn their notebook scribblings into highly charged polemical rap songs (and becomes their DJ). What follows is a rowdy and cheerfully rude showbiz story following the trio through drug-hazed nights and clear-eyed days, as their music begins to impact the broader community while inevitably angering authorities.
In this pseudo-biography of the band Kneecap, Peppiatt shows through fast-paced editing, coarse language, and exuberant humour how the ‘generation cease-fire’ – the generation after Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace deal – continues to resist British influences. The trio’s infectious raps link the Irish cause to pop culture. And with effect, as the three men now headline almost every major music festival.