Jasper Jones preview screening is a hit with audience

Director Rachel Perkins and author Craig Silvey provided some thought-provoking answers to audience questions at the end of last night’s Jasper Jones preview screening at the Luna Cinema in Leederville.

It was a rare treat for about 200 Jasper Jones aficionados who turned up for the special evening – which also included special appearances by the film’s producers Vincent Sheehan and David Jowsey, and actor Angourie Rice.

Author Silvey in particular, was candid in his responses – outlining some of the inspiration that led him to write what is fast becoming an Australian ‘coming-of-age’ classic – akin perhaps to Harper Lee’s famous American novel ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’ or Mark Twain’s ‘Tom Sawyer’.

Jasper Jones is the moving and heart-warming story of the rite of passage of Charlie Bucktin – a studious 14 year-old boy who gets caught up in a series of often tragic events that take place in the WA wheatbelt town of Corrigin in 1969.

In his responses after the film, Silvey explained that some of the plot of the book had come from his experiences as a child growing up in the Southern WA timber town of Dwellingup.

Without giving too much away, he related the story of how he had turned up at school one morning to find one of his friends dusty and exhausted from digging a massive hole in the ground for his Dad as punishment for a misdemeanour.

This same detail in the movie – only with the punishment put in place by Charlie’s mother – is one of the film’s highlights, as is the cricket match, where anyone who has read the book will know some of the most heroic scenes of the whole book are played out by Jeffrey Lu (Kevin Long).

Jasper Jones is a fast-paced and gripping film that both tugs at the heartstrings and gives the viewer a special insight into the world of 1960s country Australia.

The underlying racism, domestic abuse, secrets, mysteries and parochialisms bubble beneath the surface – with performances by all concerned – and particularly Aaron McGrath (as Jasper) and Levi Miller (as Charlie) – faultless.

Australian movie stalwarts Hugo Weaving, Toni Collette and Dan Wyllie also put in great performances – and the movie is distributed by Madman Entertainment.

Lastly, thanks to everyone at LotteryWest and ScreenWest for helping raise some of the funds that made this inspirational movie possible.

By Mike Peeters

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