“It always looks like that,” Peter (Jordan Firstman) beams to an awestruck Arlo (Reggie Absolom), jointly admiring a luminous New York City from the back of a cab. Crossing over the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan skyline can look inviting, dreamlike, or absolutely threatening, whether you’re a lifer (Peter) or newcomer (Arlo). Ignoring the oft-told eight million city stories, “Club Kid” wanders freely to find better, newer versions, spotlighting those who make New York breathe. A swoony, thumping labor of love, “Club Kid” saturates the screen with strobe-lit interiors, sweaty bodies, and a borderless community of compassionate, flawed misfits who are making their own family in an unforgiving hometown that rarely reciprocates affection. And, with due respect to Peter’s sentiment, Firstman’s New York has few visual or emotional precedents. “Club Kid” is a mischievous, singular doll, emitting ample warmth, some scorn, and just the right amount of rom to meet its considerable com.
Beginning in a mad, cross-borough dash for the club, “Club Kid” opens in Brooklyn on a fateful night in 2016 when mid-twenties Peter planted a seed that would become Arlo. The ultimate inciting incident, Peter—a life-of-the-party promoter who also deals drugs and organizes the parties—has a threesome, forgets about it, and for the first time in his life, has sex with a woman. Ten years later, Edison (Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who’s perfect) shows up to Peter’s apartment with Arlo. Rather than drag out the proceedings, Firstman credibly conveys confusion, denial and then acceptance, expediently breaking the ice so “Club Kid” can fly. Edison disappears, Arlo finds that the club life’s for him (you can take the kid out of the club, but …?), and Peter reports to his friends that he’s a happy new #boydad.
Firstman, a Proud Jewish New Yorker
Whoever has seen “Big Daddy” knows what comes next. And Firstman, who, like Adam Sandler, is a Jewish New Yorker, proudly and provocatively encourages that connection. When Peter sits on a park bench next to Devon (Nigil Whyte), admiring Arlo’s lack of skateboarding skill, it plays as both a tribute to and ape of the Sandler-verse man-child, dishing with his bro. Instead of piss jokes and cinema’s longest spit trick, however, the scene swerves, a violent jolt that invites a straight-talking lecture from Devon about finding professional support (“You don’t have insurance?”) for Arlo, a ten-year old emigree who knows exactly how his mom died. Enter Oscar (Diego Calva), a dreamy social worker who ultimately woos Peter, encouraging him to confront his insecurities and harrowing childhood memories. A tactical reference to Gregg Araki’s “Mysterious Skin” (2004) hints at a guiding influence for Firstman and a potential source of Peter’s own tragic backstory.
Oscar’s character, to me, conjures a classic director surrogate. The generous, wise observer who cracks a shell so the characters and the audience can see what’s hidden at the core. Thing is, since Firstman is the writer, director and lead character, Oscar’s intervention seems like a bonus “Club Kid” didn’t need, even if Peter and him look great together and eventually end up dating. To point minor flaws in an otherwise remarkable film seems like splitting hairs. But Firstman’s arc for Oscar slows down the chaotic forward momentum, redirecting the action from homemade house parties and smoke-filled apartments to a lawyer’s office, custody hearing and, inevitably, a courtroom sequence that breaks the sad, inevitable news to Sonny (Sandler), I mean Peter (Firstman).
New York Rarely Looks Like This
Thanks to the essential, dynamic Director of Photography Adam Newport-Berra (“The Invite,” “Splitsville”)—shooting on 35mm—, and a glorious, only-in-New-York cast (particularly Saturn Risin9 as the fierce and fabulous Saffron), “Club Kid” overcomes its reliance on redemptive tropes (Peter finds a job and studies psychology) and stock resolutions (the long, tearful courtroom monologue) towards the end. No shade to Arlo (Absolom is an absolute find), but Firstman is the beating heart and lost soul of this booming, tragicomic city saga, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. If, however, “Club Kid” is all he’s got—as he said in an introduction to the screening I attended—then hopefully there’s a real-life Oscar, Arlo, or Saffron who can snap him out of it. New York rarely looks like this, and we’d all benefit from seeing more from Firstman’s visionary and uncommonly wide-open mind, eyes and ears.
“Club Kid,” an A24 release, had its New York premiere at the New York Film Festival. It opens nationwide on November 6th.
