Jordan Firstman wanted Club Kid to feel the way life feels.
Firstman directs, wrote stars in the A24 film as a man deep in New York’s nightlife scene whose life is upended when he finds out he has a son. The film, which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and more, moves between big laughs and real heartbreak, opening in August 2016 to Rihanna’s “Sex With Me.” Firstman and cast members Saturn Risin6, Miss Benny and Alaska Riley spoke with exclusively BLKCinema.com about why that moment matters, finding the film’s balance as a director and the pull of the city at the center of the story.
Jordan Firstman on why ‘Club Kid’ starts in 2016
Asked how the opening needle drop, a cut from Rihanna’s Anti, sets the tone for the film’s portrait of New York nightlife, Firstman said 2016 feels like the last carefree moment before everything changed.
“I think 2016 was our last year. That scene, I think, takes place in August 2016, and then Trump got elected, and then the pandemic happened, then Trump happened again, and we just haven’t really had a moment to breathe since then,” Firstman said. “So looking back, that year was such a blessing. It gave us Frank Ocean’s Blonde. It gave us Lemonade. It gave us Anti. I think musically, God was being like, I’m gonna give you one gift before it gets really bad. I think Solange’s album was that year. She was right at the end, like, I gotta release this before Trump.”
“It was such a time of expression and connection. There was that millennial optimism, and we felt hopeful,” he continued. “And then it got taken away from us instantly.”
How Jordan Firstman balanced comedy and heartbreak in ‘Club Kid’
Firstman said the film’s tone came from wanting audiences to feel like they’d lived alongside its main character.
“I think my goal was just to make the movie feel like life feels. Life has sad moments, and life has a lot of laughter, and life has a lot of parties, for me and my friends,” Firstman said. “That was always the goal for me, for the audience to feel by the end of the movie like they had lived a part of this person’s life.”
“I believe that the universe will always provide a laugh when you need it, sometimes in the saddest moments. Especially when you’re with your friends and they’re like, I’m going through a breakup, you’re not like, cry more. You’re trying to make them laugh,” he continued. “I felt that way as the director. If the moment is too heavy, throw in a joke and give them some release. I like that you can do that with art, and you can control how the audience is going through the process.”
Jordan Firstman on the pull of New York City
Firstman said the city’s endless options are part of what makes it so easy to get swept up in.
“There’s so much temptation and freedom in the city, and also isolation. You can be invisible in the city, and I think that’s what makes it tricky for some people. You could get lost in the night, or you can really have your structure and go to Sweetgreen,” Firstman said. “This city is so much, and it has so much of everything, that it’s an easy city to lose yourself in.”
He also pointed to a Joni Mitchell lyric about the kind of madness that comes from having too many choices, a fitting reference given Mitchell’s music is part of the film.
Club Kid is in theaters now.
Featured image photo credit: A24
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