The film stars Bukky Bakray as Olushola, nicknamed "Rocks", a Black British teenage girl living in Hackney, London, whose single mother abandons her and her younger brother Emmanuel (D’angelou Osei Kissiedu), forcing them to try to avoid being taken into social services.

While Roshé is not looking, Rocks steals from her and uses the money to pay for a hotel room for the night, lying to the owner that she is Emmanuel’s mother.

The next morning Rocks wakes to find Emmanuel being taken away by social workers; Agnes had told her mother about the situation, and she subsequently notified authorities.

The crew consisted of 75% women, and director Sarah Gavron cast almost exclusively non-professional actors from the local area.

The website's critical consensus reads: "A fresh, funny coming-of-age story rooted in realistic characters and anchored with a meaningful message, Rocks is as solid as its title suggests.

"[6] According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 14 critics, the film received "universal acclaim".

[7] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it five stars, praising the film's poignancy and tragedy, and stating, "society will probably not find a way to tap this resource.

"[8] Writing for The Telegraph, Robbie Collins also gave the film five stars, saying: "Rocks would rather reckon with – and in the end, celebrate – youthful potential itself, and its extraordinary ability to flower in even the most unpromising soil.