Three generations of queer and creative people descend onto Amsterdam on a family holiday in Sophie Hyde’s latest film. You may remember her from 2023’s hilariously intimate Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. In Jimpa, she directs her own script, co-written with Matthew Cormack, and while the final product is moving, it lacks the cohesiveness and concise nature of her previous work.
At the heart of Jimpa is the interconnected relationships between filmmaker Hannah (Olivia Colman), her non-binary child Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), and her gay activist father, Jim (John Lithgow). As the former two make their way from Australia to Amsterdam to visit “Jimpa” with Hannah’s husband, Harry (Daniel Henshall), the question arises as to whether or not Frances should move to the LGBTQ-friendly city to live with Jim.
Wanting her child close but also realizing they need to make their own decision, Hannah hopes her father’s perpetual selfishness and unwillingness to embrace new ideas with deter Frances from the idea. Instead, feelings of resentment and abandonment resurface over her childhood. The film she is working on contradicts these feelings as it is centered on her parents choosing to co-parent peacefully instead of breaking apart when Jim came out of the closet.
Even if you didn’t know Jimpa was partially based on Hyde’s life and stars her child, the film feels deeply personal. There’s a gentleness to the directing and a grace given to all the characters. Some you get to know better than others which is to the film’s determent, but then again, Hyde and Cormack’s script is overstuffed. Eamon Farren’s Richard, assistant and boyfriend to the much older Jim, doesn’t get nearly enough time but steals every scene he’s in. Same with Jim’s mentee, other daughter, and his lifelong friends, who serve as a “gay Greek chorus.” To quote Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, “In writing, you must kill your darlings” and Jimpa has multiple darlings that should have been killed.
However, Olivia Colman and John Lithgow make the film worth the watch. The former plays Hannah as a calm woman trying her best for everyone but herself, while Lithgow gives Jim an exuberant frivolity that is both frustrating and a joy to watch. When their characters are locked in a battle of wills, you watch two geniuses play acting tennis across from one another.
Hyde tries to hit upon many concepts within the 120 runtime from the differing opinions between different generations of the LGBTQIA+ community to polyamory, parenting, and DNRs. She doesn’t try to resolve anything, which feelstoo safe for the content she is covering. Ultimately, Jimpa is a gentle exploration of an LGBTQ family, one that won’t change the world but could bring real comfort to those who decide to watch it.
Jimpa premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and does not have a release date.
