Jasper Jones

Craig Silvey's bestselling novel Jasper Jones has been lauded for its deft exploration of racial tensions and small town prejudices through the lens of a coming of age tale and a who-dun-it mystery. While the big screen adaptation, which Silvey co-scripted, retains much of what made the novel a hit, its loosely structured narrative doesn't translate quite as effectively on the silver screen.

Set in the small mining town of Corrigan, Western Australia in 1969, Jasper Jones tells the story of bookish 13 year old, Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller). One night an Aboriginal boy by the name of Jasper Jones taps on his bedroom window asking for help. Startled by his sudden appearance but persuaded by his desperate pleading, Charlie agrees to follow Jasper into the woods to the gruesome sight of a dead young girl hanging on a tree branch. Jasper makes it clear to Charlie that he didn't kill the girl and reveals that he was in a relationship with her. The only problem is that he doesn't want to go to the police for fear that their racist attitude will see him unjustly blamed for her death. Charlie, who believes Jasper and is eager to help him, agrees to hide the body in a pond nearby and to keep their discovery a secret.

Unfortunately what should have been a good set-up for a mystery film lacks one crucial element: there's no reason to suspect foul play in regards to the girl's death. When we first see Laura's body hanging from the tree, there's a more obvious conclusion to be made. Jasper instead begins to make up stories surrounding her death and centers on the idea that an old recluse, Mad Jack Lionel (played by the excellent but criminally underused Hugo Weaving), must have murdered her. Charlie believes Jasper, as there have been rumours that the old man has done bad things in the past, but there's not enough reason for the audience to suspect the old man's involvement in matters. The suspicion surrounding her death seems only to exist only in the eyes of the children and this robs the film of much of its tension, particularly towards the end of the film when the kids finally decide to confront Mad Jack.

However, the confrontation still ends up being the stand out moment in the film as it results in some startling revelations about Jasper Jones as a character. It's a well-crafted dramatic scene that is only undermined by its lack of cohesion with the rest of the film. For most of its running time, the film weaves together a collection of different subplots and side stories revolving around Charlie's life, including his parent's rocky marriage and his growing feelings towards local girl Eliza (Angourie Rice). Jasper only periodically intersects with the narrative and he remains a largely passive character, disappearing for large swathes of the film at a time. When the ending sharply puts the focus back on him, it feels forced and disjointed; not allowing the revelation to hit with the devastating impact the film is clearly striving for.

That's not to say that the film doesn't have its moments but overall Jasper Jones feels like an amalgamation of disparate parts that only come together under the broad hat of a coming of age story. There's a bit of everything: a touch of mystery, a pinch of comedy mixed in with a bit of family drama and racial tension. While parts of it work well, they never really come together cohesively, making the whole feel less than the sum of its parts.

Set in the small Western Australian town of Corrigan, in 1969, this Australian indie has loads of concurrent themes abounding, including a murder mystery, the blatant racism of the time, sexual molestation, infidelity, loyalty, friendship, and the list goes on.

Although the film may have thrown "one iron into the fire" too many, I still found it to be quite engaging, and it kept my interest as to how this would all play out. There's a strong cast here as well, led by Levi Miller, Toni Collette, Angourie Rice, Aaron McGrath, and Dan Wylie.

Overall, this coming-of-age tale, directed by Rachel Perkins, with a screenplay by Shaun Grant and Craig Silvey, based on his novel, may not always work, but it contains some solid twists and surprises and it kept my interest throughout.

This is a good drama. There are some mysteries that keep it interesting, however I wish it tied things up a little more with the subplots. It left too many things unanswered. I guess for us to make our own assumptions, but I like things more buttoned up.

Great acting from Toni Collette!

Rachel Perkins has directed another terrific, simple, Australian film here. Adds to illustrious titles including Radiance and Bran Nue Day. There was certainly good material to work with, being based on the young adult book by Craig Silvey, who has also co-written the screenplay. It looks nice, still has currency today and the acting is once again terrific from most of the players. Toni Collette as usual, Hugo Weaving in a cameo role. An understated but really good Dan Wylie, and a terrific performance from young Levi Miller. All in all a really well made film.

An Australia's murder mystery set in a small town. The film was based on the novel of the same name. Starred by the next generation Aussie actors like Levi Miller and Angourie Rice. But the film was not what I had expected. Just okayish. Not at first glance I liked it, because I thought it was a little out of common sense, even from the kid's perspective. I don't blame the entire film, but the opening. Too intentional and right away jumped into the suspense.

This is a children's film, the story of teenagers, and a mystery surrounding the death of a girl. After the unconvinced start, not even the end brought any consolation. Though it could have been for just me. That's what I felt. So according to me, only the mid parts held the film for me to look for something in the later. All it had was the wonder characters and the storyline. The rest of the film failed to stretch with the best developments. Definitely a good tale for literature, but for a film, to witness everything on the visuals, it needed more detail. Only if it had depth, I would have found it a better film.

The story that happened in the holiday week that comes between the Christmas and the New Year. In a fictional Aussie town called Corrigan, a young Charlie was approached by Jasper in the middle of the night. Later he comes to know Jasper's girlfriend has been murdered. Now they are set to find who did it and why bofore the athorities do! The following days are crucial for both of them as the whole town is terrified by the incident. When the time comes to the truth, the secrets were revealed just before the film's end.

-xX] You're just like her, your mother. You're peas in a pod, you two. [Xx-

There was a little distraction like the Vietnam war, racism. All the above, the character Jasper Jones seemed an imagination of Charlie. Because of his secret appearance, but that did not last long. Yet the murder mystery always stayed top of the film topic. When the end revealed everything, that reminded me the films of 60-70 years ago. The timeline for this film too was in the same period, precisely 1969. The locations were awesome, the cinematography should be appreciated.

I thought the Jeffrey was an under-used or unrequired character, until the cricket match scene that's dedicated to him. Following it, what happened to his family was a nice flow of the story. Charlie's family too, the issue of the parents, crisis is their marriage. As I said, the film had ingredient, but did not cook properly. The reviewers, the film critics comparing it to some of the classics like 'To Kill a Mockingbird' to 'Stand By Me'. But I would say, it is too late to come to get equal status of those films. It was just an above average, but if it came in the 80s or 90s, surely would have been a gem and changed the Australian filmdom.

Despite the film title, the story was narrated by Charlie, the one who developed an unexpected relation in the most extreme situation with Jasper Jones. Apart from one worst week of his life, he also finds his first love. A coming-of-age film, worth a watch, but no doubt that it should have better. Not sure if the majority would like it or dislike it, but it is once watchable film. Finally, it got nominated for the Australian Academy Awards for this year (2017) in six categories, sadly it had won nothing. I hope that should not be a reason for you to skip it!

6/10