"It's a weird thing suddenly being seen when you come from a place that never even wanted you to f****** exist."
Mixing profundity and profanity, Kneecap's Irish-language phenomenon has finally come home, seven months on from its rapturous world premiere in the US and with a great debut album also sounding the charge.
Now we can see that everyone involved was right all along: the Belfast rap trio of Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Próvai; their director and co-writer Rich Peppiatt; co-stars Michael Fassbender and Simone Kirby; TG4; Northern Ireland Screen up the road; Screen Ireland down the road; plus the crowd at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where Kneecap won the coveted Audience Award in January; and the faithful at July's Galway Film Fleadh, where another three gongs were collected as a warm-up for the box office bossing that begins this week.
Truly, this is an important film, as far from vanity project or ah-bless offering as you could possibly get and where the only notions to be dispelled are your own. It can't be stressed enough just how well Kneecap works.
Narrated by Móglaí Bap in Dánafellas style, and with the group starring as themselves, it's a youthquake movie that deserves its place alongside, say, Over the Edge, Quadrophenia, The Decline of Western Civilisation, Trainspotting, and any other gem you care to mention. It mines history, finds its flow in the here and now, and looks proudly to the future. Any act worth their salt should be able to mythologise themselves. We get plenty of that here - and a lot more besides.
There are two huge surprises. The first is that in 'playing' the lead roles, Kneecap show they can really act. Seriously, they're too good for this to be a one-and-done nixer. The second is just how moved you are by the "mostly true story". Sure, there are loads of laughs as the lads careen from one seat-of-the-pants situation to another, but baked into the bravado and bawdiness are themes of identity and acceptance, and the realisation of just how far things have come in a matter of decades, on screen and off.
Our 14-year-old selves would have done anything to bunk in to see this barnstormer, but its impact will be felt long after the initial cinema run and late-night repeats at home. Gaeilge now has two classics in its vanguard around the world, and just like An Cailín Ciúin, Kneecap's selection as the Irish entry for next year's Best International Feature Film Oscar race is wholly justified. They've got this far; you couldn't put it past them to go a bit further.
A date for your diary: that Academy Award shortlist will be announced on 17 December, roughly the same time as Kneecap is topping many an end-of-year poll including, perhaps, the most important one of all - yours.
Comhghairdeas leo siúd go léir.
Kneecap opens in cinemas on Thursday 8 August.
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