Rocks

Available on Netflix.

Directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Theresa Ikoko. Set in inner city London, Rocks is a teenage girl who finds herself having to take care of her younger brother when her mother leaves them to “clear her head”.

Let’s get to it, this is a remarkable and for me beautiful film. Remarkable for its performances and beautiful for its message. At times this is a “gritty” watch as we follow a 13 year old girl who is abandoned by her mum to look after her young brother and while the grit is not front and centre, clearly poverty abounds in Rocks’s life, but the film doesn’t wallow in that.

That is where the films beauty is, it would’ve been easy to let her circumstances be the focus, but instead Gavron’s film is built on positives, her optimism, her friendships, her love for her brother and her desire to protect him and make life better. Yes at times it’s hard, she makes some poor decisions under pressure and reacts badly to her friends offers to help. But that is the point, it’s about true friendship, the films beating heart is those relationships with those there to tell her and do for her what she needs not what she wants.

What makes this beautiful story even more remarkable is the cast, a cast that is full of first time performers, each and everyone of them brings  a wonderful energy, enthusiasm and real naturalism to their roles. Bukky Bakray is incredible as Rocks balancing bravado with vulnerability perfectly. Kosar Ali as her friend Sumaya is equally fantastic portraying the good daughter and determined best friend with an edge. It’s unfair though to pick out one or two performances, across the board they are fantastic and not fantastic for first time performers,  high quality performances on any measure.

Rocks is a superb piece of work and regardless of the difficulties in her life it refuses to pity her, showing the consequences of her poor decisions, but this is not a sad film, this is a film built around the positivity of strong friendships and the desire to be better and do the right thing, brought to screen with a fantastic energy and exuberance.

It’s a film that deserves to be seen, so seek it out on Netflix.