Australian director Sophie Hyde is back with her latest offering – Jimpa.
Loosely based on Hyde’s family, Jimpa follows Hannah, a film-maker, on a family trip to Amsterdam to visit her elderly father, Jim (also known as Jimpa). Jimpa left his family in Australia to seek a new life in Amsterdam,
Hannah’s child, Frances, who is non-binary, absolutely idolises their grandfather. While their school is progressive and has an LGBTQI+ club, they feel stuck and frustrated. It is on their journey to Amsterdam that Frances announces that they would like to spend a year in Amsterdam. The intention is to immerse themselves in a bigger pond, one with more diversity and progressive attitudes.
Hannah is unsettled by this request but she and her husband decide to let it play out. Perhaps Jimpa would convince Frances with his behaviour.
Jimpa is an eccentric who swings between being charming and cantankerous. His charisma clearly served him well as as pioneer activist. However, he also vividly remembers the struggles of his early years, first with being gay and then with the onset of the AIDs epidemic. Consequently, his trauma colours his opinions, which sometimes causes tension within the family.
Despite the mood he is in though, his affection bubbles over for his beloved “grand-thing”. In between this, he juggles an academic career and an active social life, both among friends and lovers.
A character so rich could only be so deftly played by an actor of John Lithgow’s storied experience. One moment, we see Lithgow’s Jimpa carry himself with distinguished pedigree at a job interview. In another scene, he is skimpily clad, prowling an underground club for a lover. It is a true credit to Lithgow for portraying the multiple personalities so convincingly over the course of the film’s 112 minute run.
While Olivia Colman’s Australian accent seems to be on hiatus, she otherwise plays Hannah beautifully. Colman’s Hannah is in restrained turmoil from the conflict between narratives in her head.
They say that there are three sides to every story and this is certainly the case with Hannah. She grew up believing one version. Then there’s the script she’s trying to sell about her family – one of a happy family with no drama despite the extraordinary circumstances. Lastly, there’s Jimpa’s account which throws everything into a headspin.
Despite this maddening situation, Hannah chooses to soldier on. Colman wears this weariness like a second skin, effortlessly showing us her character’s consernation one minute and jumping into protective mama bear mode the next.
Unfortunately, while care has been taken into portraying complex characters, the storyline is muddled from trying to effectively showcase every facet. Consequently, there are times where we feel like we are going off tangent, only for said tangents unresolved, before we’re pulled back into the main plot.
For example, there is a brief spotlight on sexually-inexperienced Frances’ blooming relationship with an older, more experienced teenager. And suddenly, feelings bubble over between Hannah and her dad’s assistant without any background information.
While this would indicate that Jimpa’s runtime was shorter than preferred, ironically, the pacing of the movie is sluggish in parts. In fact, there are moments which could have been shortened to make way for further exploration of other relationships.
In particular, the final act of the movie seemed unnecessarily long. I would understand if this final act was rich with dialogue or emotion. However, too little was said to justify waiting that long to hear it.
It made me wonder if this is a downside of Hyde’s proximity to the subject matter. As someone who creates content, I still struggle with cutting clips that I am personally fond of.
Perhaps this is a small price to pay for a film that ultimately brings viewers a layered perspective of intergenerational relationships.
Too often, we stereotype the grandparent-grandchild bond as being its own special kind of love. However, this is based on heteronormative, conformist ideas of what it means to be a family.
Jimpa’s gift is in its presentation of the dynamic between Jimpa and Frances. Two strong personalities, both revolutionaries among their contemporaries, living on different ends of the world…yet still in mutual adoration of each other.
I just wish there was clearer direction so that we could have focused on the crux of the movie; that while people are complex, the sincerity of love keeps families together.
Jimpa opens in cinemas 19th February.