“Club Kid” Is a Debut Worth the Risk

Photo Credit: Fiamma Noto

“Club Kid” might be one of the best movies of the year. The fact that this was Jordan Firstman’s directorial debut means every movie of his after is going to be even more incredible, or this is his peak. Either way, this movie was honestly phenomenal in every aspect from the cinematography, writing, acting, and everything in between. Firstman said “I did everything you shouldn’t do as a first-time filmmaker. I worked with a kid. I worked with non-actors. I shot real parties in New York. I shot on 35 millimeter.” He did not take the easy way at all for his first film, and I really admire all that he had to go through to make it all work because it really did make a difference in the finished product. 

Firstman plays Peter, a New York party promoter whose life gets turned upside down when a 10-year-old shows up in his apartment and finds out that he’s his son. It sounds like a familiar plot line, but this movie makes it feel so much more personal than that. Firstman said at the Q&A that he cried every day while making it, and even called it his “adult breakup album.” He said that he wrote it after ending a relationship with a guy he loved so much, but was a heavy partier and Firstman had to choose himself, and he explained, “You break up and that love doesn’t end. I needed somewhere to put it, so I put it in this movie.” You can truly feel it in every scene, because even the funniest moments come from a real place.

We first see Peter’s life ten years ago, in 2016, and he was heavy into drugs, alcohol, and partying to the point he was waking up mid afternoon hungover and just went straight back to it. Firstman had said that the film partly comes from his own issues with drugs and partying, and I feel like his own experiences made the party scenes so realistic. The opening isn’t a joke or a glamorous image, but rather it sets up the current time where it goes back to 2026, and he is still doing the same exact thing. He knows he needs to stop, but keeps getting pulled back in. It shows how hard it is to get out of that situation, and luckily for Peter, the kid gives him the motivation to live a cleaner life. 

The real heart of the film is Peter’s relationship with his son, Arlo. Firstman said one of their early scenes, a conversation on Arlo’s bed about their moms and Peter’s insecurities, was shot in a single take and the whole crew was sobbing by the end. He said that moment was when he knew “something special” was happening. It’s that type of scene you can’t just fake, and I think it’s a big reason why this had such an impact on their chemistry. Peter’s romance with Diego Calva is just as sweet. Firstman called Calva “a tender person,” and that comes through on screen, especially in a phone call scene where Calva barely says anything and you still feel how much he loves Peter.

What stayed with me most is how the film treats the club as a family. Firstman described it as “the space where we show up for each other,” complete with “the drug addict uncle that needs to be taken care of” and “fights with your sisters.” The movie never pretends that family is simple, but it makes a loving case that a kid can belong in these spaces too, with the right precautions of course. 

The ending is where it earns its place for me. Firstman said he wanted writing and filmmaking to feel “sober,” which he described as “without all the extra stuff. What’s left is just you.” Peter doesn’t end up magically happier, but he’s grounded and moving forward, and that’s the most honest ending the movie could have given him.

Firstman took every risk a first-time director is warned about, and it paid off. “Club Kid” is funny, tender, and lived-in, and I can’t wait to see what he does next, whether it tops this or not. I would definitely recommend everyone to see this.