Kneecap

Self-proclaimed pieces of ‘low-life scum’ Naoise and Liam Óg have nothing on their minds besides having a good time, dealing the odd pill, avoiding the police and speaking their mother tongue when they form Irish-language rap outfit Kneecap with schoolteacher-turned-producer DJ Próvai. But the band’s rise to fame sees them become a lightning rod for the legal fight for Irish to become an official language of Northern Ireland.

This fictionalised biography of the rise of the real life band, Kneecap is acerbic, hilarious and unruly. Moving at a mile-a-minute and blessed with a whip-smart script, it’s nonetheless a thoughtful examination of the place of language in decolonisation. After debuting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to rapturous international acclaim, Kneecap is the rare film that manages to be unashamedly culturally specific, but with an appeal that crosses any border.

With thanks to Curzon