Any movie that stars Brit Academy Award winner Olivia Colman is a must see and even in this latest one that seeks to educate us than entertain, she still shines out despite the material. In this autobiographical movie from Austrailian writer/direcrtor Sophie Hyde, Colman plays Hannah (aka Hyde) as she is about to set out from her home in Adelaide to visit Jim her gay father (John Lithgow) who is leaving a hedonistic life (well, as much as he can) in Amsterdam, the queer capital of Europe.  She and her husband are taking their non-binary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde who is Hyde’s own non-binary child) for a vacation, but as they are about to depart Australia, Frances annouced he actually want to move semi-permnently to live with his grandfather.  Jim, refuses to accept his ‘title’ and so insists that Frances calls him Jimpa. 

Frances reasoning is that they need to experience in a big city to be able to find their true self  which they feel is impossible in their home town.  Hannah is horrified at the whole idea, but very shrewdly doesn’t voice her opposition knowing that Frances seeing the outragous and selfish behahavior of Jimpa at firsthand will make them want to change their minds 

This is not Lithgows’s first time playing ‘gay for pay’……he was nominated for a Indie Spirit Award for his performence in Ira Sach’s Love Is Strange ….. and hebgives a convincing, if not a tad, stereotype performance.  In fact in the first part of the film we get throughly engaged and invested in the journey the story is taking.  However there is a sharp turn in the plot as Hyde forsakes trying to entertain and  instead attempts to educate us all the aspects at being non-binary and aking a whole different attitude to gender. In our case, she is preaching to the choir.

Hyde gives the impression that is sticking rigidly to how the story had developed exactly in real life, maybe she should have filmed it as documentary instead.

Colman’s name will give the movie some traction and is probably why it has been selected as the Opening Film at a couple of queer Film Fests, but I dont think we are the best audience for this