Kneecap: Irish trainspotting (critic)

Three Ulster-Restion dealers make a nice finger at conventions and transform their native language into a cultural bomb. A crazy, delusional and very clever biopic.

If when you are told Northern Ireland, you are still in Belfast (The film in Branagh’s TOC) or the disorders, put all this on the closet. Kneecap Pulverizes all misconceptions with raw energy and a joyful audacity. This “mainly true” ““ mainly true ”biopic of the Gaelic rap trio – where members play their own roles – is a crazy and electrifying slap. Rich Peppiatt celebrates the improbable birth of a local group that has become a phenomenon: two small dealers and a music teacher transform their native language into a cultural weapon. And, between chaotic recording sessions and high -worked concerts, its first long vibrate of rare authenticity.

Visually Peppiatt borrows from the punk cinema and we think a lot about a Trainspotting Irish. Same feeling of revolt, same ideological empty and even speed, raw and inventive. Animation, Deepfake of Gerry Adams, scenes in plasticine – the filmmaker fines of all wood. But these artifices serve an essential point on “the children of the ceasefire”, this abandoned generation of the post-conflict. The unbridled story agrees with the vision of the real of the characters: a simple succession of life segments without awareness of the next day. Because behind the irreverent comedy arises a generational reflection and a manifesto on the preservation of a threatened cultural identity.

Beyond his humor, Kneecap celebrates linguistic resistance as a political act, without ever falling into the trap of the socio film. Samper, intelligent and fun, he beats to the rhythm of a youth who refuses to be reduced to silence

Of Rich Peppiatt. With Naoise ó Cairealláin, Liam óg ó Hannaidh, Michael Fassbender… Duration 1h45. Released June 18, 2025