Hyde Park Pick: Kneecap
A fun, chaotic, controversial film not to miss this week.
Robb Barham
FUN. Sometimes in life, or watching films (which is the same thing), we just want FUN. FUN!
With our Pick this week, there’s FUN all over the place. Kneecap (2024) is a semi-autobiographical drama about an Irish rap act of the same name, starring the band members as themselves. The group has been coming to prominence for years, but with this new film, they’re very much now in the public consciousness, with sold out tours and festival gigs - and all the better for it.
Their music mixes English and Irish lyrics, satirical and republican themes, and is self-consciously anti-establishment, confrontational and most importantly articulate. Oh, and did I mention they have an unlimited supply of charm too?
It’s invigorating that we get to screen films that so flagrantly mix intelligence, wit, politics and that prod repeatedly at our sense of decency, moral judgement and pre-conceptions. For that I applaud it.
But crucially, at its core, it’s messy, controversial, funny, chaotic, energising FUN!
Kneecap is showing at HPPH from Friday 23rd August. Book tickets here.
