Jimpa

Sophie Hyde (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) stays close to home in this sensitive, honest drama about queerness, parenthood and imperfect intergenerational relationships (John Lithgow, Olivia Colman and Aud Mason-Hyde).

Jim (Lithgow) calls himself ‘Jimpa’ to escape the word ‘grandpa’ – true to type for this charming contrarian, who left his family to pursue a free, gay life in Amsterdam. His daughter Hannah (Olivia Colman), her non-binary teenager Frances and husband (Daniel Henshall) pay Jimpa a visit – both exposing and bridging generational gaps.

Against the backdrop of the Amsterdam canals, Hannah tries to make her newest feature film: a tribute to her dad. Jimpa, in the meantime, is just being himself: a right he fought for. He encourages Frances to enjoy queer Amsterdam (encountering a few Dutch familiar faces, like Romana Vrede, Hans Kesting and Zoë Love Smith). Between the family members, things don’t go very smoothly – but isn’t that just how it is, when everyone’s truly being themselves?  

Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde made the intimate tragicomedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande in 2022. Now, she focuses on the intimacy in her own life, and casts her own child. The honest, sincerely played Jimpa echoes far beyond the family circle.

– Christiaan Boesenach

Trailer

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