# ‘Jimmy’ Review: Woozily Seductive Mood Piece Wanders Europe in Pursuit of James Baldwin’s Spirit

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/jimmy-review-woozily-seductive-mood-piece-wanders-europe-in-pursuit-of-james-baldwins-spirit/
- Published: 2026-08-03T00:13:33+00:00
- Updated: 2026-08-03T01:06:24+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/jimmy-review-1236826059/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Europe, World

## Key points

- "Jimmy" is an oblique, largely wordless film evoking James Baldwin's spirit.
- Director Yashaddai Owens shot it in monochrome 16mm across Turkey and France.
- The 68-minute film finally gets US release, two years after Telluride premiere.

## Summary

"Jimmy" is a review of a new hybrid film directed by photographer Yashaddai Owens, which explores the spirit of writer James Baldwin without functioning as a conventional biopic or documentary. Critic Guy Lodge finds the 68-minute feature an oblique but effective work, noting that despite its unconventional, largely wordless structure, it feels genuinely in touch with its subject in a way more traditional dramatisations might not.

The film follows a version of Baldwin, played by Benny O. Arthur, through Turkey and France, shot in monochrome on a Bolex 16mm camera without disguising its present-day settings. For its opening ten minutes, Baldwin remains an unseen presence as the camera adopts his point of view through the streets of Istanbul, accompanied by a jazz score from Paco Andreo, before he becomes a physical presence once the story shifts to Paris. Having premiered at Telluride nearly two years earlier, the film is only now receiving a US release via Strand Releasing.

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