Jasper Jones

Australia 2017

A bookish teenage boy’s instinctive sympathy for the town’s scapegoat draws him into the murkiest secrets of a righteous community in this whodunit set, very persuasively, in late-60s small-town Australia. 

“Centered on a 14-year-old boy caught up in a murder mystery involving a part-Aboriginal suspect, this outstanding adaptation of Craig Silvey’s novel will appeal strongly to teenage and adult audiences. Boasting excellent performances by young actors Aaron McGrath, Levi Miller (Pan) and Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys), and with Toni Collette in top form as the protagonist’s frustrated mother, this is the best film yet by director Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae)…

Published in 2009 and since adapted for several highly-acclaimed stage productions, Silvey’s source material is regarded as something of a Down Under To Kill a Mockingbird. Tackling themes of prejudice, class, justice and death through the inquiring eyes of a teenager who dreams of being a writer, Jasper also invokes the spirit of films such as Stand by Me, in which youngsters take very adult matters into their own hands.” — Richard Kuipers, Variety