Good but mainly grim film about a young Black schoolgirl of Nigerian origin, growing up on what seems to be a South London council estate, whose mother has some sort of mental health issue and disappears (not for the first time) leaving her to care for her much-younger little brother.
The poster and the description make it look as if it's a feel-good upbeat movie about friendship between girls, and there are moments like that. But it's also bleak and depressing much of the time. Rocks's life is quite grim, and she doesn't cope very well at all once her mother goes away - there are no other adults she can turn to for help, the kindly neighbour calls social services and Rocks takes her brother away to hide, fearing (rightly) that if they are taken into 'care' they'll be split up. She makes lots of bad calls, including stealing cash from the backpack of her friend who has tired (intermittently, admittedly) to help her.
I note in passing that the estate looks a lot like the one featured in Chewing Gum, and that Shola Aduwesi (who played Tracey's mum) appears in the photographs as Rocks's grandmother, who has moved back to Nigeria for her health.
Watched on Netflix.
No comments:
Post a Comment