« The Moment, » which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival, is purportedly a mockumentary about Charli XCX but is abrasive and incoherent.
Jan. 24 Charli XCX plays herself in The Moment, which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival. The mockumentary about the end of her Brat Summer phenomenon lacks clarity and humor.
In September 2024, Charli is planning an arena tour to promote Brat. Atlantic Records wants to make a concert film with Amazon.
They hire director Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård) who wants to sanitize Charli’s edge. At the same time the label ropes her into a promotion for a Brat themed credit card.
Some of this is absurd, like the credit card. Creative differences and art vs. commerce are relevant but The Moment has no observations about them or suggestions with how to effectively deal with them.
Charli XCX, who brought the story to director Aidan Zamiri, had something personal to express. She’s not sending herself up so much as working through what if 2024 really went this way.
It is surprising she’d want to present herself as this indecisive, rolling over to executives and making compromises. Wanting to show her vulnerability is more understandable, but a voicemail confessional intended to reveal her insecurity only confuses her motivation further.
So it’s not really satire. It’s just chaos. For a non-Brat outsider, little seems uniquely Charli XCX.
