Director – Sarah Gavron – 2019 – UK – Cert. 12 – 93m
****
A 15-year-old, East End London schoolgirl must look after her seven-year-old brother when their mother abandons them – in cinemas from Friday, September 18th
From its opening, in which a bunch of ethnically diverse, 15-year-old girls from Hackney in London’s East End clown around together, lean on a balcony and film each other on a mobile phone, it’s clear that this is something very different. It’s been made with a young, mostly female cast many of whom have little or no acting experience via intensive workshopping and improvisation. Thrown into this mix somewhere along the process a highly personal script outline has emerged from Theresa Ikoko, one of two writers involved in the lengthy development process, which seems a perfect fit for the young cast.
Although the story source was Ikoko, I’m guessing that the input of co-writer Claire Wilson is just as significant. And while I believe you can never underestimate the importance of a good script which lays the foundations of a production, in this particular instance many other collaborators both behind and in front of the cameras have also contributed a great deal, with director Gavron and her producers holding it all together. (I’m aware you can make statements along those lines for many films, however this particular film is something very different from most.)
In fact, Rocks may be one of the most collaborative films I’ve seen, right at the other end of the scale from the majority of films. These tend to be defined by one or two ‘auteurs’, usually the writer(s) and/or the director. The one comparable work that springs to mind is remarkable, heavily improvised SF epic Monsters (Gareth Edwards, 2010), basically two actors and a tiny film crew crossing Mexico, improvising scenes with people they meet and adding a bunch of equally improvised CG effects in post-production. A strange comparison, you might think, but one which on reflection makes more and more sense to this writer.
Ikoko and cast member Bukky Bakray being both British Nigerian, Bukky is the perfect choice for Ikoko’s protagonist. The other young women were chosen to represent “everyone you would find on a London street” to quote casting director and story researcher Lucy Pardee in the production’s unusually informative press handouts. (Being a Londoner myself, I certainly responded positively to seeing that on the screen.) As a clear chemistry emerged between Bakray and fellow cast member Kosar Ali, it was decided to cast them as best friends.
The story concerns schoolgirl Shola, nickname Rocks, 15, (Bakray) who must look after her little brother Emmanuel, 7, (D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu) when their mother, briefly seen at the start, leaves a note to say she’s going away but will be back soon. Determined to keep the pair of them out of the hands of social services, Rocks pursues a series of inappropriate and increasingly desperate strategies, starting with hastily arranged sleepovers at friends’ houses and culminating in stealing money and impersonating an adult. Eventually, it all catches up with her.
What makes the film fundamentally a joy to watch is the performances of the kids, an element which feeds into and indeed develops the filmic narrative. The script apparently defined situations and scenes but left the dialogue largely open to improvisation, which could easily have been a disaster but happily on this occasion delivers something very special indeed, no doubt due in part to the production’s heavily collaborative nature. I should add that this may be something to do with most of the cast and crew being female, because their gender often possess better networking, listening and empathy skills.
In a manner not entirely unrelated to documentary, a huge amount of footage has been shot from which a film has been sculpted in the cutting room in what must have been a logistical nightmare for editor Maya Maffioli, whose credits include Beast (Michael Pearce, 2017) and who has done an incredible job.
The collaborative nature of this film turns it into a nightmare for the critic too, because there are so many names that deserve a mention and there simply isn’t the space in a review. All the kids here are excellent. Two adult actors who appear briefly but, again, almost certainly contributed far more than we see on screen, are Sarah Niles who plays an Afrobeats dance teacher and Sharon D. Clarke who plays a foster carer. I’m hoping the production have a wealth of deleted scenes and other supplementary material from the production because there ought to be some incredible extras on the DVD when it comes out. Don’t wait for that though – go and see this in the cinema now.
Rocks is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday, September 18th.
Trailer: