Jasper Jones

A powerful mystery-drama based on a much-praised 2009 novel by Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones could be described as a small-town crime story with a solution that unlocks all of the secrets and misery of everyone involved. But director Rachel Perkins doesn’t answer every question or solve every enigma, which leaves the film’s teenage central character, Charlie (Levi Miller), with the nagging, real-world conclusion that sometimes we have to move forward despite ambiguity. Set in an Australian suburb early in the Vietnam War, Jasper Jones finds the title character (Aaron L. McGrath)—a much-despised and feared mixed-race kid—seeking late-night help from Charlie, to whom he’s never even spoken. The problem: a girl who Jasper was secretly seeing is hanging dead from a tree. Certain he will be blamed, Jasper implores Charlie to help him hide the body. Hobbled by rising paranoia and the terror of being found out as an accomplice, Charlie tries to get on with his troubled home life (his parents are played by Toni Collette and Dan Wyllie), while also dealing with sweet romantic overtures from the dead girl’s younger sister (Angourie Rice), and a grizzled war veteran (Hugo Weaving) around whom rumors swirl. Perkins maintains masterful control over the film’s pacing on the way towards shocking revelations, but her primary focus is on the characters who are nurturing secret lives away from the glare of a sometimes brutal community. Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)