‘The Moment’: Charli XCX Mockumentary Is A Must For Fans, A Maybe For All Else

There are a few things you’ll need to fully enjoy The Moment, a satirical take on Charli xcx’s Brat era starring the popstar herself. You’ll most certainly need to have been chronically online during that album cycle, but you’ll also need to have a pretty deep understanding of Charli lore and her creative ideology to fully comprehend the movie and its humour.

Thankfully, years of being a Charli xcx fan and unfettered internet access have poised (or poisoned) me to fully wrap my head around The Moment, a bizarre and singular piece of pop filmmaking that’s every bit as transient as the era it attempts to capture and satirise.

When it was released in 2024, Brat was an unprecedented hit for the previously underground superstar Charli xcx. But rather than simply take another victory lap by releasing a puff piece movie, The Moment – directed by Charli collaborator Aidan Zamiri – supposes a different question: what if the Brat era was co-opted to become something more generic, brand-safe and ultimately catastrophic?

Thus, The Moment is an alternate reality tale where, in order to prolong the lifespan of Brat, Charli’s vision is overtaken by cynical record executives and a music film director by the name of Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård), who is looking to thoroughly defang her vision.

A film as singular as Charli xcx herself

What follows is an absurd satire about the music industry, and the difficulty with which artists navigate its endless hypocrisies. Playing a fictionalised version of herself, Charli is ultimately the vehicle for The Moment’s success. I don’t know if she’s a sensational actor, but the charm that made her a fav of the not-quite-mainstream for a decade before Brat is on full display here.

Although her music and artisanship take centre stage here, she’s far from the only star of the show. Her and director Zamiri deploy a cast of who’s who in Hollywood and beyond as the orbiters in her circle.

There’s Patricia Arquette as seedy record exec Tammy, Jamie Demetriou as spineless manager Tim, and a number of other women that Charli has associated herself with like Rachel Sennott and Kylie Jenner who are deployed to surprising effect – especially the latter.

Ultimately though, the show gets stolen by the aforementioned Alexander Skarsgård as Johannes, and Hailey Benton Gates as Charli’s friend and creative director. Gates’ character is the emotional core of the movie, and the further Charli strays from her the worse things get.

However, Skarsgård is a total delight as Johannes, perfectly capturing the vibe of a man working in the arts as a sycophant to his corporate overlords. He spits out faux-feminist one liners like it’s nothing, and his character is equal parts hilarious and terrifying to behold.

Would non-Charli fans enjoy The Moment? Hard to say

Although The Moment is entertaining, it’s certainly not without flaw. It’s the most chronically online movie I’ve seen in a minute, which is okay – but ultimately gives it a pretty short shelf life, which is arguably a bit of meta-commentary baked into the film’s concept. In that way, it’s more of a historical document than its mockumentary label may imply.

But therein lies perhaps The Moment’s greatest flaw – it’s not a very good mockumentary. Compared to genre greats like This is Spinal Tap or What We Do In The Shadows, this film barely ever recognises the fact that it’s supposed to be styled like a documentary, to the point where I questioned if that was even its intention.

There are only a handful of moments where the film’s characters ever acknowledge the camera, and a good chunk of sequences practically cease to function in the film’s narrative if viewed through the lens of being a fake documentary. To me, it feels like they decided on that angle midway through production, but had to make the best of what they had with the pre-existing footage they’d shot.

But if you can compartmentalise that odd filmmaking choice, and you’re at all a fan of Charli xcx, The Moment is well worth watching it. But if you’re going to see it, I’d recommend doing so sooner rather than later – its title and content both allude to its transience as a work of art, and I can’t say how well it’ll hold up in a year or two’s time.

★★★½

The Moment is in cinemas now.