‘Jimpa’ Review: A Liberated John Lithgow Sets the Tone for an Unkempt Homage to Tradition-Defying Kin
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film Critic Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival just days after Trump clarified his Make America Great Again agenda, Sophie Hyde’s “Jimpa” is a film about progress, not going back.
Inspired by lessons of living with an activist gay father (John Lithgow’s richest role since “The World According to Garp”) and a nonbinary child (Aud Mason-Hyde), the semi-autobiographical drama captures — and celebrates — the ripple effects of the Sexual Revolution across three generations.
With its inclusion-minded ensemble, frank and occasionally frustrating ”woke”-abulary and tradition-bending “gender ideology,” “Jimpa” feels as “Sundance” as any film in this year’s festival.
Hyde, who hails from Australia, taps Olivia Colman to play her on-screen counterpart, Hannah, an indie filmmaker whose “mostly” monogamous marriage to a straight, cisgender man (Daniel Henshall) is the closest the film gets to showing a heteronormative couple.
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