JASPER JONES
Australia, 2017, 102 minutes, Colour.
Levi Miller, Aaron L. Mc Grath, Anghourie Rice, Kevin Long, Toni Collette, Hugo Weaving, Matt Nable, Dan Wyllie, Myles Pollard, Susan Prior.
Directed by Rachel Perkins.
You don’t meet many (or any) Jasper Jones’s around the place. Which makes his name a standout for the title of this film. While his presence initiates the drama, he is not the central character. This character is Charlie Bucktin – but how many people would think that they needed to see a film entitled Charlie Bucktin!
This film, co-written by the author of the original novel, Craig Silvey, is set in Western Australia, in the wheat belt, in 1969. Corrigan seems an ordinary enough town, familiar Anglo- Saxon- Irish types, some aboriginal presence, but on the outer (including mixed-race Jasper Jones himself), a family from Vietnam (which does seem rather early in the history of migration from that country), a sense of civic spirit, especially during a meeting where the townspeople gather and volunteer to search for a missing girl, a love of cricket, especially for the Vietnamese boy, Geoffrey (a sprightly Kevin Long), who is bullied by the locals, and his mother subject to insult through a woman who has just heard that her son has died in Vietnam the day before.
So, the film is taking us back into the past, the taken-for-granted ordinariness in Australia but, now in hindsight, open to extensive critique.
As has been said, Charlie Bucktin is the centre of the film. He is a 14-year-old, bookish rather than athletic, helped by the strong screen presence of Levi Miller (who was also present in Western Australia in 1969 as the central character in Red Dog, True Blue).Jasper is played by Aaron L. McGrath?, a teenager, on the outer in the town, but approaching Charlie to help him with the body of a young girl whom he found hanging. Charlie, reluctantly agrees to help Jasper, involving him in situations that he was not prepared for, the disposal of the body, keeping quiet, deceiving his mother and father as to where he has been, following Jasper in his suspicions of the mad old man who lives on the periphery, Mad Jack (Hugo Weaving) and his attachment to the dead girl sister, Eliza (Anghourie Rice).
On the one hand, the film details the day by day life of Charlie, at school, reading, friendships with Geoffrey, watching Geoffrey at last triumph at cricket, discussing Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Eliza as well as try to appreciate his parents, his somewhat reclusive teacher father (Dan Wyllie), a gentle man who retires to his study to write, gradually alienating his outgoing wife, who becomes more and more exasperated with his quiet and seeming inactivity. She is played well, as always, by Toni Collette.
The plot does not quite play out as one might have expected, the death of the young woman more complicated, the role of the family the subject of critique, the revelations about Mad Jack more benign than we might have thought.
The film is directed by Rachel Perkins (Radiance, Bran Nue Day). There is much that is dark and sinister, no denying that, and the ending is not exactly easy for most of the characters, and, while an amount of the action takes place at night, and in the bush, the scenes in daylight make it not quite as oppressive as it might have been.
1. Acclaim for the film, popular? The popularity of the novel, readership? Adaptation?
2. Western Australia, the town of Corrigan? The wheat belt? 1969, the town, streets, homes, school, cricket matches, community meetings? A familiar Australian context? The surrounding countryside? Costumes and decor and the period? The musical score?
3. A 21st-century look back at Australia in 1969? Family issues, race issues, prejudice, morals?
4. The title, the focus on Jasper, his initial appearance, coming to Charlie, at the window? Asking Charlie to help? In the bush, Laura’s body hanging? Jasper’s fear of the law, Charlie assuming that he killed Laura? Cutting down the body, the weight, in the water? Jasper and his suspicions of Mad Jack? The plans for them to visit Jack? Jasper’s place in the town, mixed race, his mother? Death in the accident? The buildup to the confrontation of Jack, blaming him, hard judgements? His having to listen, a different story, his mother and father, the accident, Jack and his support? Eliza, her witnessing the death, the note, the truth about what it happened, Laura relying on him, his going away to get money and prepare their leaving the town, coming back too late?
5. Charlie at 14, ordinary young boy, a reader rather than a sportsman? The scenes with Geoffrey, due and his liveliness, the cricket, the conversations? His bond with Eliza, attracted, talking, awkward, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, meeting in the library? Charlie and his mother, her love, coming home late from the search, Charlie finding her with the police officer? His shock? His father’s care for him, quiet, writing? Charlie and deceiving his parents, going to see Jack, losing his bag, the return? The confrontation, the truth? New Year’s eve, the return, his mother, Eliza? His mother leaving? His future?
6. Laura, her place in her family, love for Eliza? Her relationship with Jasper, his leaving, the delay in return? The audience seeing her hanging, Eliza and the note, the truth, her abusive father, the reaction of her mother, the burning of the house?
7. Ruth, her energy, her dissatisfaction in the country town, the liaison with the police officer, her scorning her husband’s writing? Love for her son, facing the truth, the pain in leaving? The father, a nice man, introverted, passive, supporting his son?
8. Choose, genial young lad, Australian spirit, cricket – and his achievement? His parents, the Vietnamese background, the woman whose son was killed in the war and her throwing the cup at the mother?
9. The Wisharts, the daughters, the community meeting, the father presiding, the details of the search, the truth about his abuse?
10. The role of the police, the search?
11. A film and coming-of-age?
