JIMPA
(director/writer: Sophie Hyde; screenwriter: Matthew Cormack; cinematographer: Matthew Chaung; editor: Bryan Mason; music: Nick Ward; cast: John Lithgow (Jimpa), Olivia Colman (Hannah), Daniel Henshall (Hannah’s husband Harry), Cody Fern (Self), Aud Mason-Hyde (Frances), Zoe-Love Smith (Isa), Kate Box (Emily, Hannah’s sister), Eaman Farren (Richard), Hans Kesting (Un), Romana Vrede (Miriam); Runtime: 113; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Liam Hayam, Bryan Mason, Marleen Slot; Viking Film; 2025-Australia, Netherlands, Finland)
“Semi-autobiographical queer family drama.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Aussie filmmaker Sophie Hyde (“Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”/”52 Tuesdays”) directs and co-writes with Matthew Cormack this semi-autobiographical queer family drama.
The Aussie filmmaker Hannah (Olivia Colman), her husband Harry (Daniel Henshall) and their non-binary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde, Sophie’s own non-binary child) leave Adelaide to vacation in queer-friendly Amsterdam, as she visits her eccentric college professor gay father Jim, nicknamed Jimpa (John Lithgow). He moved to Europe when Hannah was 13 to lead a queer lifestyle which he couldn’t do back home in Australia without pushback. Frances asks Hannah if he could remain with Jimpa for awhile after his parents go back home, as he’s taken with the city’s openness and his free-spirited grandfather.
An overlong and meandering story results that eats into Colman’s fine performance of this humanizing film that tries to educate its audience on what it means to be non-binary (outside the male/female gender). The film might have worked better as a documentary, because as a work of fiction it’s too stage-bound, too syrupy, and too didactic.
In a muddled way it covers certain events from the 1970s, the AIDS period of the 1980s, and the sexual attitude changes in current times. It’s a personal LGBTQ+ film that despite its earnestness, solid performances and sound message on sexual tolerance, was heavy-handed.
REVIEWED ON 4/21/2026 GRADE: C+
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