The Moment Review: The Charli XCX Brat Phenomenon Gets A Bitterly Hilarious Mockumentary – SlashFilm

Who’s Charli XCX? On a base stage, it is a query posed by these out of contact with the music scene of in the present day, one thing more and more frequent now that music distribution has turn into so scattered by algorithms taking the place of curation. On a deeper stage, the query begs a observe up: can we ever actually know, and why do we have to? This facet has been tied to superstar for eons, and it is one thing which pop stars particularly have regularly struggled with. The “musician film,” for lack of a greater time period, has manifested in numerous guises over time. Of us like Elvis Presley and David Bowie went forward and have become full-blown film stars, whereas bands like The Beatles and KISS put themselves into style workout routines. Then there are thinly-veiled confessional dramas, like Prince’s “Purple Rain” and The Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” And, after all, there’s the hybrid live performance movie and documentary, from “ABBA: The Film” to Taylor Swift’s “Miss Americana.”

The two most foundational musician movies are ones which play quick and free with superstar and actuality: Richard Lester’s “A Arduous Day’s Night time” (starring The Beatles) and Rob Reiner’s “That is Spinal Faucet” (starring the fictional titular group). It is these two movies which star Charli and co-author/director Aidan Zamiri’s first characteristic, “The Moment,” seeks to aspire to essentially the most. Charli, aka Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is a British pop singer who may nonetheless be known as area of interest till her sixth album, “Brat,” exploded in 2024. “The Moment” is ostensibly a movie which takes a take a look at the “Brat” phenomenon, solely it does so by way of a closely fictionalized mockumentary lens. As such, “The Moment” isn’t just a figuring out little bit of self-deprecation and obfuscation on Charli’s half, however can also be an enchanting, typically bitterly hilarious media satire.

Up till “The Moment” premiered on the 2026 Sundance Movie Pageant, it wasn’t clear from the film’s advance advertising and marketing simply what sort of movie it was to be. Adrian Zamiri and Charli XCX lean into that uncertainty as a part of the efficiency artwork of the film. “The Moment” is about through the summer season of 2024, when “brat summer season” turned a meme together with the album’s rampant reputation. Charli (enjoying herself) is a veteran pop star instantly dealing with worldwide megastardom, and her label Atlantic Information are leaping at each probability to capitalize on this newfound success. Combined in with numerous bits of actual life hype and viral moments that occurred within the wake of “Brat” (such because the “Apple” choreography from Tik Tok) are fictionalized incidents, like Charli making an uncomfortable look on “The Late Present With Stephen Colbert” or collaborating in {a magazine} photoshoot the place odd collaborators like Molly (Kate Berlant) strain her into making trite inventive decisions.

All of that involves a head with the preparations for the “Brat” world tour, as Charli’s longtime buddy and inventive director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) is slowly however absolutely pushed apart by the document label in favor of the fashionable and extremely problematic movie director Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård). It is by way of Skarsgård’s efficiency that “The Moment” actually finds its satiric voice, because the actor creates an indelible, terrible showbiz wolf in sheep’s clothes. Godwin is like John Glover’s character from “Scrooged” dialed as much as eleven. Skarsgård and Zamiri hold Godwin’s antics each hilarious and plausible, as he dismantles and sensationalizes the live performance (and Charli’s picture) bit by seemingly innocuous bit till it is too far gone. Thus, “The Moment” is not a mockumentary about the actual life “Brat” expertise and tour, however an alt-historical past through which Charli sells herself out.

“The Moment” will undeniably disappoint followers who come to it hoping to expertise the actual life Charli XCX. It is clear that Charli is not interested by presenting her true self unfiltered, one thing which most pop stars like to offer the looks of nowadays. As an alternative, her display “Charli XCX” is a intentionally cheeky obfuscation. She’s as a lot sufferer as she is perpetrator; one second, Charli is being railroaded and manipulated by the lads that encompass her, not simply Godwin however her supervisor Tim (Jamie Demetriou), forcing her to hurt her integrity by the use of sycophantic platitudes. One other second, Charli is a sizzling mess, attending drug-fueled ragers and taking off for a trip in Ibiza simply when Celeste wants her most. A massive subplot of the movie includes Charli naively agreeing to sponsor a “Brat” bank card marketing campaign and the assorted points which spiral from that poor choice.

Charli’s efficiency as this skewed, fictionalized model of herself is fueled by this ambivalence. It is not clear which elements of the display Charli are her being confessional, that are her residing out some self-deprecating (or self-harmful) fantasies, and that are her and Aidan Zamiri simply having fun. But this ambiguity makes her work within the movie that a lot stronger, particularly throughout moments when some reality seems to bubble to the floor. In a single scene, Charli is made by Godwin to rehearse essentially the most private tune on “Brat,” “I Would possibly Say One thing Silly,” whereas sporting a gaudy outfit and flying on wires excessive within the air. It is a scene that carries as a lot sincerity because it does satire; whereas this incident by no means truly occurred, it communicates Charli the particular person’s anxieties about performing such nakedly intimate ideas and emotions for hundreds of thousands.

Along with probably alienating Charli XCX’s fan base, “The Moment” dangers annoying anybody coming to see a film a few musician, as there’s merely not a ton of performances in it. There are a pair, positive, and the rating by frequent Charli collaborator A.G. Prepare dinner provides the movie a pulse. But “The Moment” will not be a music film, not even in the way in which extra experimental efforts like “A Arduous Day’s Night time” or The Monkees’ “Head” are. As an alternative, the movie it feels closest to is 2019’s “Mister America,” a spin-off of the lengthy working alt-comedy “On Cinema” universe. That movie, as with all “On Cinema,” options comic Tim Heidecker enjoying a weird fictionalized model of himself, and solely these within the know perceive the myriad deep ranges of satire current in it. Beneath that lens, “The Moment” appears uniquely brazen, as Charli and Aidan Zamiri appear to be deliberately seeking to antagonize and problem the viewers relatively than attraction to them.

Thus, “The Moment” is satirically the right cinematic companion to “Brat,” in that it does its personal factor with out concern for the lots. The added irony on prime, which is that Charli’s new stage of stardom makes such a alternative borderline irresponsible or unlikeable, solely makes the movie’s intentions really feel extra resonant, not much less. Most celebrities bristle towards the fact that fame means they not can absolutely belong to themselves anymore, and “The Moment” as a response to this makes the movie intriguing. Adore it or hate it, consider it to be sincere or self-indulgent, “The Moment” is a film that refuses to pander, and for that, I admire it. We could by no means know who the actual Charli XCX is, however not like the fictional Charli, she appears to be placing herself on the market on her personal phrases.

/Movie Ranking: 7 out of 10

“The Moment” opens in theaters on January 30, 2026.