Sex, Drugs & Unexpected Parenting: Firstman’s Debut Creates an Entirely New Space for the Coming-of-Age Genre
First influencer, then actor, now filmmaker—the pipeline is well and truly in overdrive with his masterful directorial debut, Club Kid. Known for his brash, flamboyant internet persona, Jordan Firstman‘s feature debut is both thigh-slappingly hilarious yet bursting with a devastating emotional current of healing and purpose that suggests he has a truly deep and intuitive understanding of filmmaking and human emotion.
In the starring role himself as well as writing and directing Firstman is Peter who we meet circa 2016 as the camera swirls around an uber taking them from one club to the next. He’s a club promoter and puts on nights with his childhood friend Sophie (Cara Delavine) though they’re regularly an absolute mess, taking copious mixes of drugs and having tons of sex in New York’s hedonistic gay club scene. Flashforward ten years later and nothing much has changed for Peter, in fact, it’s as if ten years has gone by in an instant. He’s still getting blackout most nights and floats depressively through life in his dead mother’s flat where his scrounging friend Nicky (an incredibly funny Eldar Isgandarov) does nothing to help pay the rent. But one day and just as Sophie fires him for being too out of control, Edison (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) knocks on Peter’s door with his biological son Arlo (Reggie Absolom) in tow. In the very club from ten years ago he had a threesome with a young British admirer Leonora (Paris Petitjean) and despite him being gay and not remembering ever having sex with a woman Arlo is his and Leonora has committed suicide. Thus begins a hilarious, moving and profound journey of queer familial self discovery for both Peter and Arlo as they provide each other with the type of support they never thought possible.
Through his intoxicating understanding of the club and drug scene and his openness towards these subcultures, Firstman really manages to envelop us in this both uproarious and sad world. The first third of the film plays like an intense hallucinatory ride, through loud thumping music, everyone asking for a bump and garish flashing lights we recognize that Peter is in dire need of help. Compare this to the rest of the film and Arlo arrives like an initially awkward golden glow of slow burning candlelight. Firstman really shows his acting chops here, getting incredibly vulnerable but not afraid to show his devastatingly funny, quippy side that brought him to notoriety.
Absolom in his feature film debut is a revelation, a joyous kid who’s gone through so much trauma and an abusive stepfather but still bursts with vibrant likability, deep empathy and an interest in culture. He loves Cocteau Twins and connects with Peter over music tastes, a freedom of expression that becomes significant as a line of communication and bonding for the pair the way it does for Peter’s wider community.
What makes Club Kid so resonant is the deep respect and empathy Firstman has for the queer community and “unconventional” queer families. While Peter’s previous life of drug problems and even drug dealing threatens to spill over into his newer, more purposeful existence the film never overdoes it when stuff does go wrong. There’s a genuine chemistry between the two central actors and you feel Peter’s love start to change and grow, along with his life choices. This is helped by his burgeoning relationship with Arlo’s incredibly handsome child therapist Oscar (Diego Calva) which puts perspective on the spiraling self-destructive life he has normalized for so long.
Arlo may seemingly fit into this world but is it sustainable? Firstman does an impeccable job at convincing us that yes, Peter can do this and Arlo should stay with him. But instead of a dramatic custody battle full of shouting and pontificating we are left to bathe in Club Kid’s outcome with a mixed and ultimately thoughtful understanding that life can be tough and it doesn’t always go your way. But sometimes people come into your life at the worst possible time and they turn it into the best.
Reviewed on October 16th at the 2026 London BFI Film Festival (70th edition) Galas programme. 126 Minutes.
★★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
