Rocks

Kicking off the 39th Cambridge Film Festival was Sarah Gavron’s Rocks, a London-based coming-of-age story about Olushola/Rocks (Bukky Bakray) as she is forced to fend for herself and her younger brother after their mother abandons them both.

The main things that come shining through from this film are the realism and the interactions of Rocks and her close group of friends, especially Sumaya (Kosar Ali). The way it has been shot and the direction really brings this film to life, so much so that at points it felt like a documentary instead of a feature film. Rocks’ younger brother Emmanuel (D’angelou Osei Kissiedu) is, at times, a welcome relief from the everyday problems. His little nuggets of entertainment pepper the film with heartwarming and comedic star-power. But the quality of the performances overall are superb and you have got to hope that at least a few of the girls involved here go on to other, bigger things in the future.

The journey Rocks goes through, as her pride doesn’t let her seek help, bouncing from friend to friend, the loss of hope, and the discovery of what responsibility really is brings forward a collection of emotions. The humour is fresh and natural, the despair and fear comes through as does the behaviour of all involved.

I got the same feeling from the style of Rocks as I did from watching Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake: The down to earth realism really hits home in the way that you can relate to the characters as real people and not just some made up characters. The script and delivery are spot on and, listening to the Q&A with the director and the writers (Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson), the process that brought this film to life was so important to how it comes across from the screen: Holding workshops for groups of girls but then allowing them to express themselves and find their friendships, really shines through in the film, as does the fact that the girls had an input into the characters and their dialogue.

And this natural grouping that came out of the workshops works so well on the screen as Rock’s crew are so comfortable together and the interactions flows so well. Sumaya and Rocks’ friendship is the cornerstone of the group and this is utilised to the greatest effect, pulling the strings to elicit emotion and anguish as Rocks’ situation develops.

There cannot be enough credit given to the creation of this film. Using a crew consisting of around 75% women, this is a film that is giving a voice and a chance to those who generally get overlooked, through no fault of their own. To add to that, we have a group of young women of colour on the screen, showing that their life can be hard but there are ways to get through it, friendships can be and are a help, no matter the situation that you find yourself in.

Everyone connected to this film deserves praise and I sincerely hope that more people will get to see Rocks as it is a really impressive, and impressively made, film. A fantastic start to the festival.