Jordan Firstman is a triple threat as the writer, director and star of “Club Kid” (2026), his first feature film that takes a bunch of tropes about sink or swim fatherhood and makes them fresh again. Starting in 2016, Peter (Firstman) is the life of the party at Club Labor with his business partner, Sophie (Cara Delevingne), handling the logistics but after ten years, even Peter is feeling the wear and tear of this vocation. Sophie is sick of doing the heavy lifting. It turns out that Peter has a ten year old son, Arlo (Reggie Absolom), from a one night stand with Innit Babe, a British tourist actually named Leonora (Paris Petitjean). Despite heavy recreational drug use and an openly active, uncommitted sex life, Peter decides to put it on hold to provide as suitable an environment as he can for Arlo, but can he stick with the program?
After watching “Misty Green” (2026), which flogs the character for almost the entire runtime without fully seeing her, it felt like a vacation to show a character who is more promiscuous, uses more drugs, does not have a special, unique talent, and is the brunt of harsh judgment, but the movie still treats the protagonist with love and an eagerness to take his evaluation of himself at face value. The main difference is the filmmaker because Firstman is approaching Peter from the inside out, not keeping him at arm’s length with thinly veiled disdain, harsh judgment, and disgusted tolerance. As a director, he shows how Peter is having fun and the exhilaration of that lifestyle with an opening Uber interior scene with the camera repeatedly turning to show him singing and laughing with his fellow partiers. Before anyone else can judge him, fast forwarding ten years later, there is no judgment when Peter is depicted as having fun, which appears more like going through the frenetic motions of living.
“Club Kid” does not fault Peter for being gay, a drug user, a partier, but for not listening to himself and his body. He is not having fun. The point of the movie is not whether Peter can be a good father, but whether Peter can have a good life that helps him improve his self-worth and find the life that actually suits him. Just because something worked in the past, does not mean that it will forever. Arlo is the motivating catalyst and the literalization of his inner child that he can take care of in the real world. Without all the elements that no longer feed him, Peter is still a wonderful, loving person with tons of people who genuinely root for him even when they hate him. Peter is a mess, and he gets a lot more wrong than not, but Firstman shows that it is possible to be a mess and perfect without changing that much.
It also helps that Firstman and Absolom really do seem like father and son with similar looks and tons of chemistry. Everytime Absolom appeared on screen, a chorus of awwwwwssss spontaneously came from the crowd, me included. A lot of child actors seem phony, but Absolom’s acting style is natural. The biggest laugh comes after the two experience their first hiccup, and twenty-four hours later I was still cracking up over that scene. It is his first film, and Absolom completely nails it as a fish out of water who adapts swiftly to his father’s life though maybe he should not. Absolom exhibits some flashes of anger because of trauma, and he finds the right balance without tipping Arlo out of the category of sweet and good.
If you are worried that all of these topics sound like a complete downer, don’t. “Club Kid” is consistently hilarious with the culture shock that gets injected into his world when Arlo appears. Even though most of the characters on screen are adults, they are not adults in spirit. Edison (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Innit Babe’s green braided best mate, casually transfers guardianship in the least responsible way, but also deserves an award for not claiming a responsibility that is not hers. Icon. Revolutionary. Role model! Saffron (Saturn Risin9) is Peter’s friend and a DJ who nurtures Arlo’s talents. Nicky (Eldar Isgandarov) crashes at Peter’s place, but Arlo displaces him, which leads to a repeat bit with Peter’s downstairs’ neighbor, Evelyn (Colleen Camp), who is an image of Peter’s future if he was a woman.
There is even a convincing romantic storyline when Peter takes Arlo to a social worker/therapist, Oscar (Diego Calva), to deal with Arlo’s anger issues. Oscar struggles with being professional while attracted to Peter. Firstman and Calva are muy caliente together, and while Oscar is a trite symbol who exists to prove that Peter has the capacity to adult because someone wants to be in a committed relationship with him, the two actors make it feel authentic. “Club Kid” is really good at leveraging storylines that could potentially be exploitive and harmful, but because the relationship is reciprocal and feels grounded, it works. Oscar deserves to have a partner, not someone that he exists to validate and legitimize, but Peter exudes love in any context and receives love back. Here Firstman’s directing fills in unstated blanks. He shoots himself and Calva as if they are home wherever they are. There is a warmth and security as if Oscar is taking a place that was always reserved for him in a scene where the camera pulls back and reveals him in the frame appreciating a moment between father and son.
“Club Kid” also refrains from equating love with appropriateness. Peter is not a suitable person for Arlo to live with, and Firstman never compromises on that point. Firstman shows Peter’s road to (California) sobriety as one of incremental change. Peter can deny the truth, but Firstman shows it, which leads to another point. Because Firstman’s film refuses to compromise about the truth of Peter’s suitability and Arlo’s right to stability and a healthy environment, it opens the door to question whether society’s standards are also problematic because there is no legitimate path for someone like Peter and Arlo, and there should be. Firstman can depict Peter as a drug dealer and drug user while he has a child at home, but he also shows that Peter does not want his child exposed to that life and sincerely loves Arlo. Is there a legitimate path for this love to exist without being patronizing or whitewashing? Arlo does not exist to make Peter better otherwise that would be parentification and abuse. Peter is not abusive, but he can accidentally abuse, and in every scene when he recognizes that he inflicts harm, he repairs and stops it.
“Club Kid” shows the limitations of society and law to care for imperfect people whereas art, i.e. film and music, provides an alternative path that accepts imperfect people. Neither place is perfect for a kid or an adult. People are complex, capable of great feeling and great wrong. Firstman is deft at capturing this truth and love and being vulnerable about exposing the parts that are invisible. Firstman uses film to reveal the real problem, not behavior, but an irrational feeling of inadequacy. Daylight is the best disinfectant, but the projection booth will do.
