‘Jimpa’ Review: Olivia Colman & John Lithgow In Touching Personal Drama That Aims To Show Queer Families In A New Light – Sundance Film Festival
deadline.comDirector and co-writer (with Matthew Cormack) Sophie Hyde takes inspiration from her own life as daughter of a gay man and mother of a trans nonbinary teenager to tell the moving story of an Australian family on a visit to Amsterdam to spend time with the father and grandfather known affectionately as Jimpa.
Hyde most recently directed the Emma Thompson sex comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, which also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
This one features an exceptional lead performance from Olivia Colman as Hannah, a filmmaker (think Hyde) navigating her experience growing up in a family where the father left after 13 years to find a new life as a gay man in Amsterdam.
Now with a trans teenager, Frances (played by the filmmaker’s trans nonbinary child Aud Mason-Hyde), who is exploring her own identity and budding sexuality, they take a trip to visit Jimpa (John Lithgow), an aging but ever-so-eccentric and life-affirming gay man who hangs out with his also aging gay friends known as the “aunties” and representing a generation that survived AIDS and other calamities to try to put it all into context now.
