Jordan Firstman directs his debut feature, Club Kid, starring himself, Reggie Absolom, Cara Delevingne and Diego Calva, which screened at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival.
Plot in a nutshell
Peter (Firstman) is a queer New York club promoter who lives a chaotic life that revolves around a lot of drugs and alcohol. When he discovers that he has a ten-year-old son, Arlo (Absolom), he is suddenly forced into fatherhood and made to rethink his hedonistic lifestyle.
The Review
Club Kid is probably the most laugh-out-loud hilarious film of the year. Its third act reaches for a much more poignant emotional register, and while it mostly works, it doesn’t hit home as well as the raucous, adrenaline-fueled, frenetically-paced first two, which are jam-packed with one hilarious scene after another. What begins as a film about one man’s club-life experience as a queer New Yorker living a worthless, albeit fun, life ultimately ends up resonating as one lost soul’s journey towards a life worth living.
The parade of colorful characters, starting with Peter himself who is very easy to love right off the bat because of his kind nature and quick wit, but also his Azerbaijani roommate Nicky (Eldar Isgandarov), a self described aspiring queer philosopher, Sophie (Delevingne) a coke-head friend and business partner Peter has a falling out with, and the entire host of personalities each representing at least one letter in the LGBTQ+ alphabet that is in Peter’s party circle, all add to the mad vibe that sweeps you off your feet and whisks you away into that magical land of irresponsible revelry.
When young Arlo (Absolom) enters the picture, the film starts to take a whole new shape and it becomes a Big Daddy (1999) meets Kramer v. Kramer (1979) in New York, viewed through a queer lens, without the goofiness of Adam Sandler or the acting masterclass of Dustin Hoffman. Given that he’s also directing the film, Firstman does a first-rate job as Peter, only failing to convince in a few big emotional scenes. He comes off as genuine (and genuinely funny), and that’s what ultimately counts and captures your heart. Absolom is a future star as well, he more than holds his own, playing a wise-beyond-his-years 10-year-old with just the right balance of adorable dignity.
This is one of those movies that shines in festivals because the expectations are practically non-existent but the delivery is a knock-out punch. A razor-sharp screenplay (which is by far the strongest element in the film and should be up for all the awards under the sun), some fantastic pacing and a committed ensemble of great performances make you quickly forgive some of the clichéd characters, hokey plot beats and the slightly rushed ending.
Once the end credits do start to roll, the lingering feeling is a very positive one; like a smooth and tranquil comedown from an exhilarating high.