Jimpa - Sundance 2025

Jimpa [2025]

Film

Three years after Sophie Hyde's fantastic Good Luck To You, Leo Grande comes a much more personal story, written by Hyde herself, Jimpa. Based on Hyde's father Jim, a version which is played by a wonderful John Lithgow, the film mostly follows Hannah (Olivia Colman), a filmmaker who is in the process of casting roles for her own film about Lithgow's Jim. But the self-reflection doesn't stop there as Hyde casts her child Aud Mason-Hyde as Frances, Hannah and her husband Harry's (Daniel Henshall) non-binary teenager who, on their family trip to Amsterdam to visit Jim, wants to stay and experience the rich LGBTQI+ community Amsterdam has to offer.

To say there's a conflict between Hannah and Frances on their desire to stay with Jim would be a little misguided. Especially since Hannah very clearly enforces the idea that her script about Jim is focused on "drama without conflict." And while the sentiment is nice, it obscures Hannah's true feelings towards Frances' desire to stay with Jim, even if she voices Jim's shortcomings as a father due to his conflict oriented style of discussion. Hyde makes Jimpa deeply personal not just in subject matter, but in characterization. She's made a film that has her own child experiencing true growth as a member of the LGBTQI+ community, but the film's focus on Jim's decades-spanning fight for equality and civil rights for his own community, even if it means leaving his family when Hannah was 13-Jim came out after the birth of both of his daughters and after a mutual co-parenting friendship embarked on a move to Amsterdam for social justice jobs-muddies the water of what is a "conflict" and what isn't.

Hyde’s films tend to be dialogue-heavy. While Good Luck To You, Leo Grande wasn’t written by her, it still had an extended conversational structure that risked losing audience engagement. While her topics can be thought provoking and entirely deserving of attention, such as conversations of sex work, sexuality, the pleasure gap, and so much more, there can be a drawn out feel to her films that can be frustrating to watch. While I felt as though Good Luck To You, Leo Grande came around in the third act due to Emma Thompson's incredibly vulnerable and honest performance, I never got the same satisfaction out of Jimpa. Even though Colman and Lithgow are extraordinary-I've never seen a bad performance from either of them and neither have you-Hyde's script attempts to overstuff the narrative with too many talking points, ultimately obfuscating its true message.

Jimpa has plenty of wonderful moments that could blossom into though-provoking or boundary pushing discussions such as Jim's friends rebuke of the word "queer", a derogatory term they fought against during their protests, or Frances' exploration of sexuality, but they're spread too thin across the final product. When you think you're about to get to a revelatory moment, the theme shifts to another topic or even character, which leaves you yearning for the depth that Hyde has reached in her past films. Throw in too many dreamlike interjections of flashbacks or mood-setting moments and you begin to really feel the runtime much more than you'd like.

Hyde remains an incredibly bold filmmaker, unafraid to tackle complex themes—a trait that feels especially vital in today’s social and political climate. But in Jimpa, that ambition may have worked against her, resulting in a film that is deeply personal yet structurally unfocused.

Froth

While Jimpa wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, Level Crossing Brewing's In The Pines was. This New England Hazy IPA is bursting with citrusy flavors, ranging from tart grapefruit to sweet oranges, all while delivering a rather resinous overtone. The hoppiness is fairly strong not only in aroma but taste as well, coming in exceptionally well on a bitter, dry finish. There's a light malt that delivers some bready feel along with some sweetness that gives this brew a delightfully well-rounded complexion that is the perfect companion for what can still be a thought provoking watch, regardless of its issues, in Jimpa.