‘Jimpa’ Sundance review: John Lithgow stars as a gay grandpa in sappy film that tries too hard
Running time: 123 minutes. Not yet rated.Earnest sentimentality and a family casually yakking about sexual kinks make for strange bedfellows in “Jimpa,” an off-kilter dramedy that had its world premiere Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival.
Director Sophie Hyde’s semi-autobiographical movie about an Australian mom, dad and nonbinary teen who go to visit their gay grandfather in Amsterdam didn’t have me feeling prudish, though, so much as enormously skeptical throughout.
And often indifferent.Hyde’s ably and poignantly dealt with beneath-the-sheets topics before. Her “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” with Emma Thompson was a funny, touching and incisive comedy about a stressed-out woman who pays repeat visits to a sex worker.However, while “Jimpa” is not without its charms, the situations and conversations are difficult to believe and damn near impossible to relate to.
For a film that’s very much about connection, it completely fails to connect.The overlong and too-steady movie tries to say so much — about the struggles of being gay in the ‘80s, gender identity, nontraditional relationship structures — that it all comes off as white noise.
