MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO, THE

SYNOPSIS:
Jasper Morello (voice of Joel Edgerton), guilt-ridden over a fatal accident in which caused a man's death, leaves his Plague-ridden planet on board a space ship under the no-nonsense Captain Grimwald (Tommy Dysart), desperate to redeem himself. He is joined by Aerial Biologist Dr Belgon (Helmut Bakaitis), sent by The Academy for scientific purposes. The chance discovery of an abandoned dirigible leads Jasper through unchartered waters to an island on which lives a terrifying creature that may provide the cure for the Plague. The journey back to civilization is filled with horrors and Jasper's redemption is elusive.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Gothic sci-fi in which elements, machines and ideas of the past and the future merge; a space ship is exactly that. A ship flying in space. Well, not exactly, since the animation turns everyday objects into mysterious, spiky versions of their familiar selves. The characters are all in black, angular silhouettes, with occasional highlight features, like spectacles.

Eye-catchingly singular, with a narrow colour palette outside the basic black, of pale blues, with a few splashes of red. The film is dark, complex and fatalistic.

With its mythic qualities, the stylised narration (Edgerton) and its haunting, other worldly mood, Jasper Morello is a unique and remarkable addition to Australian cinema.