A24’s ‘Club Kid’ heads to AMFA on Nov. 4

A24’s “Club Kid,” the feature directorial debut from multi-hyphenate Jordan Firstman, is heading to Little Rock early, thanks to a partnership between Reel Queer Film Festival, the Arkansas Cinema Society and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. 

The film, which screens for free at AMFA on Wednesday, Nov. 4, hits select theaters on Nov. 6, but no dates have been announced for Little Rock yet, meaning it could be a while before you’re able to see it on the big screen if you miss this showing. There’s also a slim chance, god forbid, that it may not come to Little Rock at all!

OK, the reason I’m being so dramatic about all of this is that I’ve actually already seen the film. It happened to show at the Telluride Film Festival back in September, and I really loved it. 

The premise — a strung-out, hard-partying gay man gets a wake-up call when it’s brought to his attention that the lone threesome involving a woman he’s ever had resulted in a pregnancy and now he’s suddenly expected to take care of a 10-year-old kid — might sound a little gimmicky, but it’s handled with a remarkable amount of care and grace. If you’ve consumed any previous media from writer/director/actor Firstman before, you might expect this movie to be all laughs and irony, and it does start that way. But the gradual move into pathos is effortless, and the emotional surprises really pack a punch. It’s one of my favorite films of the year. 

You can reserve your tickets here.