+1 - I tried using GraalVM for a Clojure(script) + re-frame application recently and it didn't work, changing back to OpenJDK works fine. It's a shame because the times were Graal does work, the start-up time is orders of magnitude faster.
SVM/native-image has its place, but currently it's optimised for things like command line apps or servers that people constantly shut down and start up to try and save on huge AWS costs. Actual runtime throughput and latency will be far better on regular OpenJDKs, especially the latest ones with much better garbage collectors.
There is also https://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/discuss/2020-April/0...
nailgun doesn't solve it generally.
leyden is not released yet; its proposal into JDK future is validation of the approaches projects like GraalVM/Mandrel and Quarkus are doing.