Bites, Camera, Fashion: ‘Kneecap’ too real and revolutionary for an Oscar nomination

Bites, Camera, Fashion: Bites, Camera, Fashion is a column from Davey McNelly, who is disabled, likes films and makes poor choices while trying to simplify his life. 

Hi there. It’s awards season here in the United States. Oscar time! 

My oldest kid is about to be Bat Mizvahed, as she turns thirteen. It’s a great joy to watch her grow, to become a person of integrity and kindness. She’s far further along than I was at her age. And as she gets older, I think more and more about the world she is going to inherit. One of constant war and rich people making decisions that are bad for everyone else. So I’m going to do a very Davey thing and review a film that wasn’t nominated. It’s one of my yearly traditions, to watch movies that are too political to win an Oscar, often from countries that “we” don’t like. Watch everything, read everything. Broaden. Right?

Also, fine. It’s cold. I don’t want to leave the woodstove to see a movie.

Bites

We live outside of town, just far enough for Avalanche to not deliver, and both my kids were having a sleepover, so we needed pizza and candy. I’m a big fan of Reese’s Pieces. And we got sour gummy worms and bubblegum. All with enough synthetic food dyes to stain our mouths a variety of colors all the way into the morning. I ordered a Very Veggie pizza from Donatos and it was, well, fine. My partner is from Columbus and she got me into making ranch dressing and dipping the pizza in, which makes bad pizza better. My New York Jewish grandmother sifts about in her urn every time I do this. Unfortunately, my partner was out of town so the pizza was pretty mid, to quote my kids.

Camera

Near the beginning of “Kneecap,” two wee Northern Irish lads sit on a living room floor, dressed in American cowboy suits. Their dad, a member of the IRA, is saddened by this. As a parent, your kids are going to disappoint you. They are going to want to buy fast fashion, break your favorite mug, swallow a quarter, use slang that you are too old to understand, and dress up as genociders. It’s going to happen. Facts of life. The boys’ father winks at them and tells them to watch another Western, but this time to try to see it from the native’s perspective, to side with them instead.

That is good parenting that I aspire to. And it’s a Chekhov’s gun element, foreshadowing events later in the film

You know how you like the Irish accent? Well, that’s because there’s a whole language beneath that: Gaelic. It’s a beautiful language. And of course, the English, in their colonization of Northern Ireland, suppressed it.

So why not rap in it? Subversiveness is what hip hop is all about. 

The two young lads (played by Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh and Naoise Ó Cairealláin) are in their twenties now, and their dad (played by Michael Fassbender) is in hiding, wanted by the fuzz (police) for all the bombings and resistance to English imperialism. The brothers are doing copious amounts of drugs and writing about it. A man in his thirties (played by J.J. Ó Dochartaigh), whose wife is a leader in getting the Gaelic language recognized by the government, helps them produce an album. The songs are catchy and good. It’s funny, anti-establishment, has a lot of interesting sex, uses the C word in numerous ways, and is quirky. “Kneecap,” I found out, is an actual rap group IRL (in real life). Give them a listen.

So why should “Kneecap” not win an Oscar? It’s too real. It’s outside of the global imperialistic mainstream. It critiques those who say conflicts are too complicated to pick a side. It shows that all oppressed groups should band together, and should find ways to blend culture and politics. Those who do nothing, to paraphrase MLK, suck. Kneecap’s response to not getting an Oscar nod is perfect. I can’t print it here, but it ends with “Free Palestine!”

Here’s where you may be asking yourself: Davey, were your kids watching this film with you? My answer: No, they watched the movie “Scream,” the classic Wes Kraven meta horror film. I watched most of it with them. I enjoyed what I saw. Perfect for your burgeoning 13-year-old

Fashion

My youngest kid’s friend was wearing very comfy-looking pajamas after a sleepover. As her dad was picking her up I noticed they were Gilmore Girls’ themed. And here I’m going to make a disclaimer. I put up an Instagram poll a couple days ago asking if I should just review Gilmore Girls season 1, which I am almost finished with, instead of reviewing a movie. It narrowly lost out, 47% yes to 53% no.

But I take my signs from the universe when they come. 

While I hear Seasons 2 and 3 are superior, I have to say that I am really enjoying Season 1. Gilmore Girls is a TV show set in the early 2000s. It’s about three generations of Gilmore girls, the middle of whom had their daughter at the age of 16. And it’s three shows in one.

1. A Comedy of Manners: Emily Gilmore (the grandmother) is the type of overbearing and critical mom that you hope you find in every Jane Austen novel. It’s extremely well-acted by Kelly Bishop, who shows the limits of class and money. Can she break through her insecurities to become a support for her daughter and granddaughter? 
2. A Comedy: Melissa McCarthy got her start here as the mother’s best friend and Inn chef. It lets characters grow into their roles. It’s quirky, witty humor. The humor comes out as characters run into their personal limitations and get stuck, trying to push through.
3. A Rom-Com: Loralai and Rory, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Biedel, go through men, trying to find the right one. Their dating is often in parallel. There are ones that make you cringe, and ones you kind of like. You hope they will find love, but at the very least, they always find their way back to each other.

Should you give it a watch? It’s not groundbreaking television, but to understand women and femmes in the 13-35 year old range, it is highly important to watch an episode or two. I make the same argument for Sex and the City for 35 – 50 year-olds.

As the weather looks like it is about to warm up, and I take my annual warm weather trip south, I hope you find a movie or show to cuddle up with, fight the power, and that you’re surrounded by warmth.

Do what I do. Make the best out of winter. Enjoy soup, have a gift-swap of the annoying holiday gifts you got, enjoy the books and films you don’t have time for in the summer. And don’t worry too much about your resolutions. As long as you’ve read your Aesop’s Fables, you’re doing better than most.