“Have fun at my party,” Peter (Jordan Firstman) tells a random young guy who you imagine he might’ve resembled a decade prior that successfully hustled his way in through the door at a club during the opening minutes of “Club Kid,” notably an event that he has ownership over as a promoter, but not really within his control. Then again, people hire Peter and his partner Sophie (Cara Delevnigne) based on their reputation for truly wild soirées, complementing the usual DJ spinning for sweaty bodies on the dance floor to grind against with the attractions of a tattoo station where someone getting their butt done suggests a shedding of inhibitions that makes the backroom where people don’t need to head home to have sex seem like a natural extension. What’s exhilarating to a twentysomething looks like it has started to take its toll on Peter, now in this thirties having gone through this night after night for years where he’s expected to be a part of the festivities as much as organize them, and what once appeared as a stroke of genius merging his professional and personal goals with a party that truly never stops now can seem like a life he hasn’t fully thought through when he feels obliged to do a line of coke if a tray is passed his way or ends the night hooking up with strangers to keep it all going, even if he’s no longer feeling it.
The night owl gets hit with a particularly harsh light a decade or so after the fact in Firstman’s altogether incandescent directorial debut, learning that one particular evening of group sex has led to the birth of Felix (Reggie Absolom), a son even more unexpected given Peter’s preference for men and the fact he has grown up abroad when his mother Leonora (Paris Petitjean) only was in town on holiday with her friend Edison (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) all those years ago. As Edison relays to Peter in the present, Leonora recently checked out and rather than put Felix in the care of her abusive partner at the time of her passing, she believed he would be in more capable hands with him though the two hardly knew each other, the kind of judgment that seems sound to her friend when she wants to do a bump of ketamine before delivering the news.
The fact that Leonora’s instincts are right turns out to be the truly brilliant element of the comedy when it comes as a surprise that Felix and Peter get along like gangbusters from the jump, sharing the same taste in music when Leonora could be counted on to play Cocteau Twins and Massive Attack around the house rather than the Wiggles and the kid is quite comfortable amongst Peter’s coterie of friends who act more his age, and Peter finds himself unusually well-suited to being a parent from work, knowing who he should let in at the door and keeping his son entertained. Yet while raising a son comes easily, Peter has to grow up himself, from dumping a tiresome houseguest (Eldar Isgandarov) that won’t leave on his downstairs neighbor (Colleen Camp) to kicking a drug habit that is too casual to pose a serious issue immediately but surely will do long-term damage, already leading to a professional breakup with Sophie.
As a performer, Firstman has perfected a brash-bordering-on-arrogant persona that has made him a scene stealer in supporting roles on “Search Party,” “The English Teacher” and “I Love L.A.,” as well as his leading turn in Sebastian Silva’s riotously funny “Rotting in the Sun,” but it makes his dramatic arc, both in character and as an actor more broadly, genuinely astonishing as Peter is gradually humbled by having more responsibility and accepting of it. The script is exceptionally well-crafted to include small epiphanies for Peter, such as when he can be surprised to learn from Felix he might actually be able to cook when his bucatini goes over well and marvels at how cool Felix is when he had work so hard to feel as comfortable in his own skin, but also requires real nuance from Firstman in the role as the character starts realizing that slowing down doesn’t necessarily mean his life will be any less exciting, particularly when he has to take time to figure out a potential relationship with Oscar (Diego Calva), a social worker assigned to Felix with whom he has undeniable chemistry yet the two want to maintain certain boundaries at first.
Everything falls into place so well in “Club Kid,” including a dramatic third act turn, that the threat is it becomes unnatural or formulaic, but instead it all feels fresh, due in part to the way Firstman finds unexpected yet logical connections for Peter to transform from the person he was to who he can become without starting from scratch as well as the lively camerawork of Adam Newport-Berra, presumably on a break from “The Studio” with its one-take wonders to apply that technical wizardry towards honing in on the emotion of any given scene without often breaking away, never looking to impress with length but finding interesting angles on potentially rote framing. The same could be said of “White Lotus” composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer retaining the unusual rhythms of past work that have proved so catchy in the film’s score yet it’s free of his signature animal sounds to rethink the house music that generally has underlined Peter’s life. The wicked sense of humor laced throughout could be assumed from Firstman, but it’s really there to set up the gut punch he delivers by the end, yielding a true knockout that sees Peter dare to say goodbye to his old life and its star saying hello to a most promising future as a filmmaker to be reckoned with.
“Club Kid” will screen again as part of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes on May 16th at 8:30 am at the Salle Debussy and 2:30 pm at the Cineum Salle 3 and May 17th at 4:15 pm at the Cineum Salle 3.