Jimpa is essentially a story about family and identity. It’s about how we label ourselves and each other. Sophie Hyde directed the film, which is a reflection of her personal family life.

Jimpa stars Olivia Colman as Hannah. She lives in Australia with her husband and child. (Nobody makes any effort to do accents in this film.) She’s a filmmaker working to get backing and a cast for her film about a family with a gay father who leaves everyone behind when the daughter is 13. The father moves to Amsterdam.

Hannah, her husband, and child Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) are on the way to visit Jimpa (a combination of Jim and Grandpa) in Amsterdam. Hannah’s dad is gay and left the family when Hannah was 13. Sound familiar? John Lithgow plays Jim. Jim just had a stroke and is recovering.

Frances is queer, trans, non-binary and 16 years old. (Aud Mason-Hyde is the director’s child and also queer, trans, and non-binary.) Frances idolizes Jimpa because he’s a fighter for gay rights. Jim lived through AIDS and many battles for gay rights. He’s an activist and an academic. He’s old, loud, and opinionated.

Much as Frances loves Jimpa, the gap between the generations is a big one. Jim doesn’t like the word queer, doesn’t believe bisexuality is real, and struggles with the they/them pronouns Frances uses. Frances has all the vocabulary for queerness, every subtle refinement in labeling. Frances has vocabulary but no experience.

When young people come to a party at Jim’s house, Frances is attracted to a woman named Isa (Zoë Love Smith). Isa is 19 and willing to initiate Frances into queer sex.

Hannah and the rest of the family support Frances and every other queer person who surrounds Jim. Everything is on display in Amsterdam. There is no judgement. That’s the best part of this film.

By the third act, Jim is sick again. That’s when Hannah’s sister Emily (Kate Box) finally makes an entrance in the film. Emily has been caring for Jim in Amsterdam while Hannah was still in Australia. With Jim in the hospital, Hannah struggles to find out why he left the family when she was 13. Her feelings of abandonment have ruled her life, and her chance to know more about why are slipping away.

Some people saw the film as being about Frances, but I felt it was Hannah’s story. Her story was the reason she was making her film, the reason she worried about letting Frances stay in Amsterdam with Jim. I had questions. Why wasn’t she closer to her sister Emily? Why did she bathe with Frances?

Jimpa opened doors of acceptance for all things queer. That was its core. That was the reason I thought it was worth watching. But with that said, it left a lot to be desired. I don’t wholeheartedly recommend it, even though I enjoyed it. If you do watch it, I’d love to hear what you thought.

You can see the film on Hulu/Disney+.