PARK CITY, UTAH Jan. 31 (UPI) — A filmmaker is entitled to make a personal film about their own family. However, Jimpa, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival, is full of characters so wrapped up in themselves they become a chore to watch.
Olivia Colman and Daniel Henshall star as Hannah and Harry, a couple who take their nonbinary child Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) to Amsterdam to visit Hannah’s father, Jim (John Lithgow). Jim calls himself Frances’ Jimpa, rather than grandpa.
Mason-Hyde is the child of Jimpa director and co-writer Sophie Hyde, who has a father named Jim to whom she dedicated the movie. Knowing nothing else about their family, the film is beyond self-indulgent.
Colman’s Hannah is a filmmaker making a movie about Jim’s LGBTQ advocacy, which she pitches as a “drama without conflict.”
Immediately, producers and actors in casting Zooms call out Hannah on her philosophy. Everything Hannah describes is conflict, but she is just in denial about it — so much so that she literally says, “It’s not important if I was hurt and angry.”
Viewers learn Jim came out as gay after having two children. Jim and Hannah’s mother decided to stay with him to co-parent until Jim got a job in Amsterdam and left when Hannah was 13.
Hannah sees her parents as cooperative to a utopian degree. Others rightfully point out that even though it wasn’t a contentious divorce, her mom still had to sacrifice and Hannah still grew up without a father. That’s conflict.
It’s clear in her basic interactions that Hannah is terrified of any conflict. She’s so agreeable it’s annoying. Denying conflict actually creates conflict because Hannah isn’t allowing others to have legitimate reactions.
Hannah is so determined to respect Frances’ privacy she is borderline negligent. It’s okay for parents to ask their kids what they’re up to. You’re still allowed to be a parent even if your child belongs to a marginalized group that you support.
Jim won most of his political battles, so now he just starts arguments to keep fighting. Yet, it still takes Jim a while to learn to use Frances’ correct pronouns and say “they” instead of “she.”
He’s still confused about Frances being nonbinary and their sexual preferences. The language of Frances’ generation seems to threaten him too, because it has evolved beyond the first generation of LGBTQ activists.
Nevertheless, Frances wants to come live with Jimpa in Amsterdam so they can get away from their high school in Adelaide, Australia.
Hannah tries to avoid this conversation, hoping that spending enough time with Jimpa will dissuade Frances. Harry is happy to say no, his 16-year-old child can’t move away from home, but he’s so smug about it he seems completely obtuse.
The film is about the characters confronting their coping mechanisms, but it takes a long time for any progress to happen. Jimpa is two full hours and then it still won’t end, showing more scenes during the credits.
It is admirable that Hyde empowers frank discussions about sex and sexuality. Jim has a group of activist friends who speak openly about sexual activity, and the film includes male frontal nudity to celebrate same-sex passion.
Jimpa is undoubtedly exactly the movie Hyde intended to make. If some people feel seen by it, that’s priceless.
As a piece of entertainment and art though, Jimpa desperately needs edits and focus. As filmmakers’ autobiographical films go, Jimpa is no The Fabelmans.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
