One to skip (or wait to stream), and one to see now
Fall film season is ramping up, and this weekend we’ve got two possible awards contenders opening in the Bay Area. The A24-distributed indie Club Kid and the Amazon-produced I Play Rocky both feature some terrific performances that could earn nominations from various industry groups, but I Play Rocky is the stronger of the two. Read on for more on each.
CLUB KID
The first feature film from writer/director/actor Jordan Firstman, Club Kid is one of those movies where the trailer proves to be better than the movie. All the best bits are in the trailer, which seems to promise a heartfelt and charming tale of a perpetual party boy coming into his own by taking care of the son he never knew he had. The full movie, though, is too long, with a narrative arc that is too pat and unbelievable to really draw us in.
Firstman casts himself as Peter, a hard-partying gay New York club promoter who begins to question his life trajectory when his young son Arlo (Reggie Absolom), the product of a drug-and-sex fueled night ten years prior, is dropped in his lap after the boy’s addict mother passes away. There’s a lot the movie asks us to take at face value, including the fact that Peter accepts Arlo almost immediately, without asking too many questions. The film also hints at unresolved trauma for both Arlo and Peter, but never examines either beyond cursory references. Arlo gets in a scrap with a kid while skateboarding, but otherwise seems remarkably well adjusted for a kid whose drug-addict mother has died, whose step-father is abusive, and who has just been uprooted from his home country and whisked across the ocean to live with a man who is a stranger. Similarly, Peter shares some of his early questionable teenage experiences in a conversation with Arlo’s therapist (Diego Calva, Babylon) and several times mentions self-esteem issues, but otherwise he bonds well with Arlo; the pair develop a near-instant rapport virtually devoid of major problems. Firstman’s script ends up being a classic example of telling and not showing, as we find ourselves waiting for a dramatic moment of conflict that never comes. The closest we get is a custody case that closes out the film that feels rushed, with an outcome that feels cliched and unexplored.
The film’s only saving grace is its performances. Firstman makes Peter an appealing presence who we want to spend time with, even as we question his choices. And Absolom is terrific, displaying the same poise and natural delivery as a pre-Hamnet young Noah Jupe (Honey Boy; Ford v Ferrari; A Quiet Place II). Absolom is Club Kid’s biggest selling point. He’s a star in the making, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he earns a few Best Newcomer nominations.
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Club Kid opens today in San Francisco at the AMC Kabuki and the Alamo Drafthouse, and will expand to more Bay Area theaters on November 20th.
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I Play Rocky
Hollywood loves to make movies about movies (see The Player, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Hail, Caesar!, among others) and director Peter Farrelly’s newest is a superb addition to the canon. Farrelly brings to vivid life the fantastically entertaining story of how a young, struggling, and then-unknown actor and writer named Sylvester Stallone succeeded in bringing his first script, a little boxing picture called Rocky, to the big screen, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Skeptical studio execs, budget limitations, timing pressures, and a host of location and on-set issues threaten Stallone’s project, but he never gives up his vision. Nobody involved with the 1976 film predicted it would go on to be nominated for 10 Oscars and would win three, including Best Picture. Like the film it’s about, I Play Rocky is an inspirational tale of dogged persistence that leaves us cheering.
Anthony Ippolito stars as Stallone, and he impeccably captures Stallone’s distinct speech and mannerisms. Ippolito’s strong performance anchors a based-on-a-true-story film that will delight cinephiles with its dishy, behind-the-scenes look at how Rocky came to fruition. The picture takes its title from the fact that Stallone refused to sell his script unless he was guaranteed the role of Rocky, a huge leap for a studio to take on an actor with no name recognition.
Joining the fun are Tracy Letts as a fictionalized harried and doubtful studio exec, P.J. Byrne and Toby Kebbell as the producers who back Stallone’s movie despite many misgivings, Jay Duplass as Rocky’s no-nonsense director John Avildsen, and Stephan James as Carl Weathers, Rocky’s Apollo Creed. AnnaSophia Robb (The Way, Way Back) and Matt Dillon round out the supporting roles as Stallone’s first wife Sasha and father Frank, respectively, and both are excellent. The entire cast seems to be having a great time bringing us this underdog story, and their energy is infectious. Farrelly and the film’s writer, Peter Gamble, have made one of the year’s most watchable and enjoyable pictures.
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I Play Rocky opens today in San Francisco at the AMC Kabuki and the AMC Metreon, and will expand to more Bay Area theaters on November 20th.
