Atomic Fangirl

“Across the globe, an indigenous language dies every 40 days.”

Story: Three lads in West Belfast decide to come together and make music. What could be the problem? Well, they plan on rapping in Irish Language (aka Gaelic, for folks here in the States), and in the 2010’s? Irish as a language wasn’t fully recognized by Ireland’s British overlords. Oh, and the lads are heavy into musical language that’d make their USA counterparts get stuck with an Explicit Lyrics sticker. But live venues hold the key to their music, and perhaps even a rebirth of their beloved language.

Genre I’d put it in: Rockin’, Rappin’, Renegade Biopics
Release Date: 2024
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on the band of the same name

Gotta say: Irish rappers that focus on their language, and their lives? I saw the teaser for Kneecap awhile back, and I made a note to check this one out. So when a screener hit my inbox, I grabbed it with both hands. And it’s a damn fun time. Just like the band itself, Kneecap the movie serves up lessons you’ll want to learn.

“2 to 2. … We are tied.”

Story: A woman (“Girlie”) takes a taxi home after a flight from Oklahoma. Clark is the the typical taxi driver guy. Girlie is a typical Midtown dweller. But when traffic deadlocks, they really start talking, and learning, about each other. Nobody’s typical, y’all.

Genre I’d put it in: Thoughtful Character Driven Pieces
Release Date: 2024 (2023 festival circuit)
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original (Black List 2017)

Gotta say: A film about two people talking? I figured this would be a blend of Waiting For Godot and My Dinner With Andre; a film of a play, and a film that feels like a play. Both absurdist, both focusing almost solely on two characters. So? I prepared myself for almost two hours of Very Deep Thoughts, and dug in. And I was surprised by how this simple, slice-of-life premise pulled me in so completely.

“Ain’t you supposed to be takin’ pictures?”

Story: 1960s Chicago was a time of big change. Not the least of which was the rising motorcycle gang scene. Let’s take a ride with the Vandals, a Chicago club that slowly turned into a gang as the years went by…and the OG members made room for new, younger, more criminally bent, members.

Genre I’d put it in: Subculture Docu-dramas
Release Date: 2024
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on a book of photos by Danny Lyon

Gotta say: I remember learning about motorcycle gangs back in undergrad. I was a double major in Criminology and Health Education (which obviously led me to film stuff), and learning about how biker gangs really started with WWII vets looking for ways to get back to themselves after combat.

Adapting a book to a film is often a difficult task. The genres have different approaches to getting their stories across, and the book (that often deals with creating images in a reader’s mind) versus film (where “show, don’t tell” is typically the rule of the day) can be a jarring one. However, with Bikeriders, director Jeff Nichols crafts a film not from a story per se, but from a book of photographs. Does the visual book lend to an easily translatable adaptation? Well, yes and no.