On June 7 2024 Charli XCX unleashed a monster. Green, mean and only 41:23 minutes long, ‘brat’ wasn’t just an album – it was an entire summer. And then it was a global phenomenon that dominated pop culture long after the leaves turned golden. During her Coachella performance a full 10 months later Charli floated the idea of brat finally coming to a close, but breaking up is hard to do, especially when your overnight success has been six studio albums in the making. “I JUST WANT THIS MOMENT TO LAST FOREVER” Charli admitted via Coachella’s blinking LED screen.
That moment becomes The Moment; a feature film collaboration between Charli and Aidan Zamiri, known for his expansive and impressive credentials ranging from a substantial music video directing CV to staging the marketing moments around A Complete Unknown and Marty Supreme. Zamiri’s a savvy multi-hyphenate who understands the intersection of art and advertising – after helping the singer develop brat’s visual identity and directing music videos, Zamiri co-wrote the script for a hypermodern mockumentary with Bertie Brandes, based on Charli’s whirlwind summer of 2024 and the anxieties that developed out of suddenly becoming the most in-demand pop star in the world. Given the ubiquitous nature of the concert documentary (Taylor Swift alone has made six in the past six years) it’s novel to see a musician trying to do something different with the format, rather than simply package a tour up and sell it back to punters at a premium. The Moment gets meta with it, documenting Charli’s anxieties around her record label demanding a concert film to capitalise on the success of brat and the pressures of trying to remain an independent, original artist when you’re surrounded by people all clamouring for a piece of your success.
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The trope is familiar – famous people have been lamenting their grand suffering on-screen for decades – but Charli – playing a somewhat fictionalised version of herself – is refreshingly self-aware. Drawing on the likes of This Is Spinal Tap, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and Spiceworld, this isn’t hagiography or an attempt to appear #relatable. She stops around London and Ibiza in her signature black boots and sunglasses, rolling her eyes and self-deprived. While it’s the opposite of a transformative role, Charli has fun with it, willing to touch on her insecurities and hang-ups about superstardom but stopping just shy of navel-gazing. More focus is given to another issue effecting the star: how do you stay authentic in a world where you’re encouraged to monetise every element of your life?
Speaking to that question: The Moment opens with strobe lights, thumping music and bright colours, emulating the brat tour’s branding. Before the main credits crawl a bunch of brand logos (Aperol Spritz, Starface, Beats by Dre) flash past like they’re getting producer credits. It reads like a funny gag about brand partnerships (something Charli herself has never shied away from) but as the film ticks by it’s very clear these companies are indeed affiliated with the film. Product placement is nothing new, and The Moment freely admits its financial affiliations – topical, given the claim this week that Warner Brothers reportedly paid 2000 influencers to hype up Wuthering Heights on social media. Charli et al sneaking some spon-con and gags about its ubiquity into The Moment feels like an acknowledgement that musicians and actors are as much brands ambassadors now as they are artists. (Charli is currently starring alongside Rachel Senott – also seen in The Moment – in a new advert for US soda brand Poppi.)
This anxiety manifests in The Moment when Charli takes a brand deal with a credit card company “aimed at queer young people” in order to finance the glitzy concert film the label are expecting, with douchebro filmmaker Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård, having a ball) behind the camera. In her panicked pursuit of perfection Charli throws her long-time friend and collaborator Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) under the bus, betraying the creative vision they developed together for something more mainstream and marketable. It’s not the act of selling out that’s being debated, but rather the manner in which it’s done. Charli trades club classics for cute coordinated choreography and green glitter, poking light fun at the way brat itself became co-opted by others to the point it lost all meaning (Granted Charli didn’t help herself sometimes). The Moment doesn’t offer any strategies for navigating the capitalist hellscape that has become the creative industries – Charli’s messy and impulsive and doesn’t always get it right. While this is, ironically enough, very #relatable, it does sort of feel lik a cop-out that lets boardroom bros off a little easy. The ill-fated credit card subplot is introduced early and unravels late – the third act feels a little rushed, while the first is slightly ramshackle due to the volume of characters who need introducing.
While it still feels a little early to pass final judgement on Charli’s acting (she’s got a busy year, lining up appearances in I Want Your Sex, Erupcja, Faces of Death and the new Takeshi Miike film), she’s certainly got excellent taste in co-stars, from Skarsgãrd and Benton Gates to Jamie Demetriou and Kate Berlant. Even Kylie Jenner manages to give a good performance, something hitherto thought impossible. It’s just as well the cast are on top form – the majority of the film is set in an east London industrial space while Charli rehearses her tour choreo, leaving little to the audience in terms of visual intrigue.
But The Moment feels like a definite step in the right direction for the world of film tie-ins; rather than regurgitating the brat tour or lamenting relatability on-screen while surrounded by money, Zamirii and Charli needle at the absurdity of the entertainment industry, and by extension, their part in it. Refusing to take itself too seriously, this spirited contemporary period piece captures some of the insanity that was brat summer – but crucially reminds us there’s something to be said for knowing when to leave the party.