Club Kid
Ten years after he started a successful monthly party at Bushwick's Club Labor with his partner Sophie (Cara Delevingne, "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets"), a hedonistic event known for its DJs, drugs and sex, Peter (Jordan Firstman ("Rotting in the Sun," TV's 'The English Teacher') has partied himself into oblivion and Sophie wants him out. But Peter's life is about to undergo a dramatic change when Edison (Kirby Howell-Baptiste, TV's 'Barry') shows up from England with a ten year-old in tow, the result of Peter's one heterosexual encounter with Edison's friend Lenora (Paris Petitjean) while high at one of his gigs. At first Peter thoroughly rejects the idea of fatherhood, but when Edison leaves him in the lurch with the kid, Arlo (Reggie Absolom) has the curious effect of making him want to grow up and take responsibility in "Club Kid."
Laura's Review: A-
There have been plenty of movies about a child changing an adult's life from Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid" to "Kramer vs. Kramer" to "Big Daddy," but writer/director/star Jordan Firstman's feature directorial and screenwriting debut stands out from the pack with its LBGTQ friendly culture and its realistic portrayal of the legal ramifications of child welfare. Firstman's given himself a great character arc, but his secret weapon is young Absolom, a real charmer, both complemented by a supporting cast made up of nonprofessional actors, up and comers like Eldar Isgandarov ("The Debut") and veterans like Colleen Camp.
Peter's days usually begin with him crawling blearily out of bed sometime in the late afternoon, the thirtysomething club promoter still partying well past daybreak. He's hardly recovered from Sophie's ultimatum, his financial survival largely due to the rent-controlled apartment inherited from his mother, one shared with entitled clubber hanger-on Nicky (Eldar Isgandarov, the upcoming "The Debut," hilarious in both), when he's wakened by a life-changing knock on his door. The amusingly hyper Edison reminds him of a long ago three-way (the scene which opens the film) in which he did the unthinkable and had sex with a woman, Lenora, who has just succumbed to a drug overdose, leaving behind Arlo. Peter is guilt-stricken, but tells Edison his life has no room for a ten year-old although he agrees to watch him for the afternoon, apparently the only person on the planet who doesn't realize Edison isn't coming back.
Deducing the kid must be hungry, Peter brings Arlo out for pizza, which the kid likes, but promptly throws up due to a lactose intolerance causing Peter to throw up as well - right onto Arlo's head, not a great start. And when Edison doesn't return, Peter takes Arlo on a quest to find her and the two begin to bond over their shared musical tastes, Peter indulging Arlo at a record store with a $300 Elliott Smith vinyl (on a bank balance that is below $2,000). And Peter is discovering that Arlo's regard for him is raising his own self esteem, the two sharing a mutually beneficial and increasingly affectionate relationship. Accepting the inevitable, Peter informs Nicky he must move out ('I'll go back to Azerbaijan,' Nicky wails. 'Do you know what it's like to be an aspiring queer poet there?'), finding a solution for the young wastrel with his downstairs neighbor Evelyn (Colleen Camp, "Clue"). Then Peter's friends show en masse, an invitation he'd forgotten, but after reluctantly letting them in, finds Arlo in his element. 'Are you trans?' the kid asks several, including DJ Saffron (Saturn Risin9), and while Peter is embarrassed, his friends are not and, as it turns out, Arlo's mother had a similar friend group and soon Saffron has Arlo mixing and scratching, a new talent discovered. With everyone down on Sophie, they propose Peter begin his own party with young Arlo DJ'ing as the hook and while Peter is wary, he agrees to let his son do an early shift. Arlo is thrilled to dub himself 'Night Shift' and his debut is so triumphant that when Peter takes him home, judging club activity turning too adult for the boy, the father and son will exchange sincere 'I love you's.' Their high is short-lived, however, a drug-addled Sophie arriving to admit to Peter that she was so jealous of his success, she spitefully called child services while high, an act she now regrets but cannot take back.
"Club Kid" is a coming of age story, but for Peter, not his wise-beyond-his-years son, and Firstman has enriched the story by setting it in the world of a man known throughout New York's LGBTQ community. There is a moving scene between Peter and Devon (Nigil Whyte, TV's 'The Night Of') in a club bathroom, the other man trying to make an emotional connection, but although the two do see each other outside of club life, it is hunky social worker Oscar (Diego Calva, "Babylon") who Peter eventually hooks up with, their attraction undeniable despite Oscar's avoidance on ethical grounds (it is notably that Whyte makes such an impression we feel sad he wasn't Peter's choice). Vicki Pepperdine ("Poor Things," 2026's "Wuthering Heights") also comes into play in the film's third act as the sympathetic British lawyer trying to help Peter regain custody of Arlo.
After his artful use of a San Francisco apartment in "The Invite," cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra ("The Invite") not only has a bright New York City abode to work with here, but the entirety of New York along with a brief jaunt to London and its outskirts, his shooting serving the story by focusing on how the characters relate to different spaces, dark and claustrophobic in club scenes, light and busy on classic NYC streets, gray in London, all on 35mm. Music, is, of course vital, from club techno to Peter and Arlo's shared playlist featuring artists from Cocteau Twins to Ethel Cain, Death Grips and Moby. "Club Kid" is joyfully subversive, but also unafraid to face adult realities, a winning combination and sure-footed feature debut.
A24 releases "Club Kid" in select theaters on 11/6/26, wide on 11/13/26.
