Club Kid
TIFF Film #5
Just an absolute knockout of a film. It's very hard to imagine somebody watching this and not completely falling in love. It is an absolute crowd-pleaser with a huge beating heart that it wears so openly on its sleeve.
Jordan Firstman is one talented individual given that he writes, directs, and acts in this film. He is operating at the height of his powers and is the best that I've ever seen him. His performance is so naturalistic. At points, you feel like you're just being an observer in this man's life, the way that he forms community around him, friendships, relationships, and otherwise feel so intimately a part of his world.
I felt immense joy for the entirety of the runtime of getting to witness this man's journey of contending with the decisions that he's made in his life. Life throwing him a curveball and how that propels him in new, unexpected directions. Yes, his story may play into the tropes that you would expect for it. However, portraying a story like this through a queer lens allows it to be so much more, to feel fresher, to have a unique take on family and community.
Queer families are never traditional. Many have been abandoned or feel at odds with their own family and thus find family in the queer community. This film is a gorgeous display of queer love and family through Jordan Firstman's friends, but also when the revelation comes to pass that he has had a child, the way that that child is not only welcomed into his world but by his family's world is a thing of beauty and shows the ever-expansive well of love that queer people hold.
The film also doesn't seek to shy away or diminish the other facets that the queer lifestyle entails. A large portion of this film is dealing with drugs and partying, explicit sex, but never did I feel like the film was being demeaning towards that lifestyle. Simply, our central character outgrows that lifestyle, but never is he turning his back or judging the people who choose it; only that it’s not for him. This scene has a time and a place, and it showcases the joy and the freedom that these spaces allow, that's only enhanced further when his kid, Arlo, is taken into these spaces and is just as welcomed.
The film is more focused on growth and the idea of growing up or choosing a different path. And there can be a degree of abrasion that exists when people choose paths that are not your own. This is exemplified as Firstman pulls away from the club scene to be more of a father. There is frustration and tension between him and his club-going friends. But never is that because he doesn't agree with that lifestyle. It's just that his lifestyle has changed and it could have been very easy to slip into demeaning that facet of queer life.
Sometimes in the routine of life, you can get lost, stuck in your ways. You're living, but you're never really processing what's happening; you're existing to exist, much like a drug. You’re numbing yourself, you're becoming addicted. And sometimes it takes seeing the world through another pair of eyes to see all that the world has to offer, even if that is a path you wouldn't expect to be on. The intimate relationship between father and son in this film is delightful. As I said, it hits the beats you would expect it to hit, but framing this as the father being the messy person, and the child being so well-behaved creates a really interesting tension. Add the queer layer on top of that and you get a really thoughtful and endearing dynamic between the pair of them. There's a particular scene where they're talking about crying and masculinity that just feels so unique to this film. It's shining a light on the wisdom and the openness that queer people can impart on younger generations.
Honestly, I couldn't get enough of this film. Genuinely wanted to go back in right after it ended. I haven't mentioned it a single time in this review, which is crazy, but this is one of the best comedies I've seen in the cinema in a very long time. In placing Arlo in these queer spaces where language, queer language, is foreign to him, you get some really great laughs out of that tension. It's also a great way to not alienate a straight audience to queer language and allows them to laugh and be a part of the joke. The movie also just has incredible jokes. Like the dynamic that arises out of their relationship is so brilliant, the “fucking bitch” scene a true standout. There are many a character that's written to perfection. Not only in the comedy, but in the heart as well. All the characters here have so much heart to them. It's funny, it'll make you cry. It's so joyous about queerness. And hey, it's even sexy at points. Oh, and there's a pivotal scene set to Slayyyter’s Crank. So yeah, it doesn't get much better than that.