Based on a popular novel of the same name, Jasper Jones is an Australian film that's part coming of age and part murder mystery.
I thought it was fantastic and would definitely recommend it.
Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller) is a 14 year old boy living in a small WA town and one night a tap on his bedroom window from Jasper Jones (Aaron McGrath) sets him on a strange path of helping to solve a local mystery. All eyes are on "Mad Jack Lionel" (Hugo Weaving) as the guilty party but of course things are never that simple. Some of you may have seen Weaving on the publicity for this trail for this film so I'll warn you, if you're expecting to see a lot of him you'll be disappointed. He's great of course but actually doesn't have that much screen time.
Charlie's friend Jeffery Lu (Kevin Long) gets a bit more screen time and every moment of it is a pleasure to watch. Well, HE is a pleasure to watch - his storyline in unfortunately one that reminds us how racist a place Australia can be. Charlie's parents are played by Toni Collette and Dan Wylie and they're both superb in this. Collette's storyline is a bit more meaty than Wylie's and gives her the chance to knock it out the ballpark.
Given the whole mystery thing I won't elaborate on the story but to summarise, I really enjoyed this film and would happily recommend it.
Here's a four star review from Daily Review if you'd like to read more. I don't do star ratings but this is probably what I'd give it too.
Big thanks to Kris and the team at the beautiful Sun Theatre in Yarraville for having me at their special preview screening with Q&A. You should definitely catch Jasper Jones at The Sun if you're in the western part of Melbourne!
Trailer here. In cinemas Thursday 2 March.