Olivia Coleman already has one Oscar (and two nominations) to her name. There’s a good reason for that. Coleman is one of our greatest actors. Even in an imperfect movie such as “Jimpa” (Kino Lorber), her radiance illuminates the screen.
When we first encounter filmmaker Hannah (Coleman), she is teaching an acting class and then dealing with her dying dog. Soon after, Hannah, her 16-year-old trans non-binary offspring Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), and husband Harry (Daniel Henshall), will be heading to Amsterdam to see her gay father Jim (Oscar-nominee John Lithgow), called Jimpa by Frances.
Jimpa also has a name for Frances. He refers to them as his Grandthing. This will likely be jarring to some viewers, but it sets the tone for Jimpa’s character, which is someone who, as a longtime gay activist and HIV + community elder, has difficulty understanding how Frances identifies, along with a host of other changes to his gay world.
Still experiencing the aftereffects of a stroke three years prior, Jimpa is part of a conversation involving Frances and a plan for them to stay with him in Amsterdam for a while. It would be a chance for Frances to experience life outside of the “shitty little city” of Adelaide, Australia, as they call it.
But nothing about this will be simple. Hannah and Harry are reluctant to approve of the idea. Jimpa, while encouraging, has also begun making plans for his next relocation, this time to Finland. Frances, excited to get new experiences under their belt, is caught in the middle of the adults and their conflicting anxieties.
Nevertheless, the trip to Amsterdam is eye-opening on many levels for Frances, especially after meeting polyamorous 19-year-old Isa (Zoë Love Smith), and experiencing compersion (look it up!) for themselves. Meanwhile, Hannah is attempting to do some work on her new film, which, unbeknownst to Jim, is a personal project about him and what happened when he came out and left his family, including Hannah’s mother and older sister. However, greater drama and trauma lie ahead as Jim suffers another, more debilitating stroke.
Like Hannah’s movie, “Jimpa,” is a personal endeavor for director and co-screenwriter Sophie Hyde (who also directed the Emma Thompson movie, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) as the daughter of a gay father. Lithgow, who previously portrayed trans woman Roberta Muldoon in “The World According to Garp” and a gay man in “Love Is Strange”) thoroughly embraces the role of Jim, dishing with his gang of elder gays or appearing naked in a scene at a sex club.
The main problem here is that Hyde has patched in a series of flashbacks for main and secondary characters that are more distracting than enlightening. It’s as if the Hyde couldn’t get out of her own way.
Rating: B-
“Jimpa” screens on 2/1/26 at the fourth annual Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival. Visit Sun & Stars International Film Festival for more information.
