Jim Queen – Screening

A new virus — Heterosis — has been unleashed on the world, and it’s turning gay men straight! Symptoms include allowing your body to get a bit doughy, while the more terminal cases yearn to move to the suburbs and can suddenly explain what offsides is in football. Jim — the big, brawny, and empty-headed social media star — has been infected. And together with Lucien — a gentle, closeted twink — he traverses Paris’s guinguettes, nightclubs, and cruising spots in search of a cure before it’s too late.

Jim Queen, the first feature from European animation studio Bobbypills, is part gag-a-minute comedy, part musical, part trenchant satire. Infectiously funny, the film has been one of the year’s massive hits on the festival circuit, eliciting raucous standing ovations following its screenings in Cannes and Annecy. While undeniably French — many real-life queer Paris spots serve as its backdrop, with veiled references to figures like Christine Boutin — its humor and targets are universal (homonormativity and far-right politicians exist on this side of the Atlantic too).

The rare comedy that can be enjoyed both broadly (with punny character names like Glamydia and the Gaystapo) and as a thoughtful, deeply layered commentary on our society. But at its center is the titular Jim, a man on a hero’s journey, learning to break free from the labels he has imposed upon himself. Jim Queen is one of the best comedies of the year.