Sundance Review: ‘Jimpa’ is a Touching Portrait of Family and Intergenerational Gender Identity 

Every generation has its own ideas of what battles are important and what can be realistically achieved. Those who fought to be recognized and accepted as gay half a century ago faced centuries of preconceived notions about heterosexuality as the only accepted norm, and they likely couldn’t imagine a world where, in some places, numerous gender identities and sexual orientations would be affirmed and even celebrated. Sophie Hyde’s Jimpa explores the interesting dynamic that exists between a gay grandfather and his nonbinary grandchild in a heartfelt drama about expressing your true self and confronting conflicting ideals.

Sixteen-year-old Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) lives in Adelaide, Australia with their parents Hannah (Olivia Colman) and Harry (Daniel Henshall). While they’re boarding the plane to visit Hannah’s father Jim (John Lithgow), affectionately known as Jimpa, in Amsterdam, Frances chooses that moment to share that they want to spend a year living with Jimpa. As soon as they arrive, Jimpa embraces Frances, who he endearingly calls his “grandthing,” and begins their introduction to the city that includes long visits to cafes with Jim’s network of gay friends and an eye-opening attraction for Frances to nineteen-year-old Isa (Zoë Love Smith).

This is Hyde’s fourth narrative feature film and the fourth to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. While each has to do with unusual relationships, like the entertaining comedies Animals and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, her latest film ties in much more closely to her debut feature, 52 Tuesdays, which follows the weekly meetings between a transitioning parent and their child. Jimpa feels like a much more mainstream and straightforward exploration of what it means to be queer, but it’s still possible to see the roots in that somewhat experimental entry from eleven years ago.

The notion of queerness plays a significant role in this film’s narrative. Jimpa has been such a formative influence on Frances, even if they haven’t seen him all that much and Hannah has her own complicated way of relating to the father who left her family at the age of thirteen to pursue who he needed to be all on his own. Jimpa at one point upsets Frances by decrying the idea of bisexuality as invented, insisting that, if Isa is into Frances, that makes her a lesbian, ignoring her ongoing, partially open relationship with a transgender man. Jimpa and his friends knew what ideas were out there back when they were fighting for equality, and there’s a clear resentment even just in the concept of reclaiming the word queer as something good when it only evokes bad memories of persecution for those of a certain era.

This is an intimate family affair for Hyde, whose father had a similar story and whose own nonbinary child portrays Frances. That authenticity shines through in the film, which also gives a strong platform to the always terrific Colman, whose character is in the process of making a film about her parents and their separation, which each person she consults about involvement says can’t possibly have been devoid of conflict despite her certainty that it was. Hannah and Harry are unwaveringly supportive of their child, opting not to get too involved in giving advice on sex but resolute that Frances staying with Jimpa is not a good idea, if only they could figure out a way to forcefully communicate that. It’s fascinating to see that support system be so strong and to simultaneously understand how they feel Jimpa might be a problematic influence. 

Pairing Colman with Lithgow is also an effective choice. While Jimpa lives and talks like a much younger man, he is indeed getting older, and questions about small memory lapses – and reminders of a recent stroke – gradually lead to concerns about his health and longevity. Colman did receive an Oscar nomination for a recent turn about an adult daughter supporting an ailing parent in The Father, but this is something much different. Jimpa may be as stubborn as Anthony Hopkins’ protagonist, but he knows what’s happening and is all too aware of how the world around him is changing and potentially leaving him behind. Lithgow, known for adding humorous flair to otherwise serious characters, delicately balances Jimpa’s sensibilities to make him someone larger-than-life who can also tell that it may be catching up to him and he has to keep running to try to stay where he is.

The true star of this film is the one without any awards history and whose only past feature film credit is a role in 52 Tuesdays: Mason-Hyde. While considerably more attuned to how the world works than most sixteen-year-olds, Frances still has an idealistic perspective that suggests that Amsterdam can do for them what it did for their grandfather years earlier, to help them understand the person that they could be surrounded by the right community. Frances is quiet and reserved but capable of deep expression, and Mason-Hyde brings out the personality that peeks through every once in a while.

Much of the first half of Jimpa is lighthearted and showcases how this one family dynamic has so many parts that occasionally gel and at other times clash. Its second half leans much more toward the nostalgic and into anticipatory grief. Like its lived-in focus on the evolution of gay and lesbian to LGBTIQA+, this film also knows how to depict a realistic journey to loss that taps not so much into sincere regret but into missed opportunities and unknown secrets. While it occasionally feels a bit long and drawn-out, Jimpa has a sense of purpose and knows how best to tell its story, another lingering and cohesive effort from Sundance favorite Hyde.  

Movie Rating: 7/10

Awards Buzz: Colman and Lithgow are both awards magnets with numerous nominations and wins under their belts, so it’s possible they could give the necessary visibility to Hyde’s project. Her past brushes with accolades came mostly for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. If this film gets picked up by a major distributor, it could have legs.