OVERVIEW
The Moment is a mockumentary that follows Charli xcx through the hectic week leading up to the Brat arena tour, her first headlining arena run. In a way, it is a Charli xcx version of This Is Spinal Tap and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, using a fictionalized account of real events as satire of the music industry. In the real world, the 2024 album Brat showcased Charli at her most aggressive and confrontational, embracing a harsh, unapologetic tone and becoming one of the most acclaimed pop albums of 2024. The film imagines an alternate reality in which she gives in to that pressure and chooses the safest, most commercial route.
BACKGROUND
The film started as an idea for Charli during a tour, when the pressure of keeping the “moment” alive began to feel like its own story. She reached out to her collaborator, Aidan Zamiri, and pitched him the concept directly, wanting to turn that behind-the-scenes anxiety into a mockumentary. Zamiri had only worked in music videos and commercials up to that point, including Charli xcx’s “360,” so he already understood the exact ecosystem the film is poking at, along with Charli’s visual language. At the same time, Charli has been edging toward acting for a while now, showing up in festival projects beyond her own music world, making this her fourth acting credit at a major festival in just a few months. The Moment feels like the first time she is treating that pivot as more than a side quest.
EXECUTION
What The Moment proves above all is that Charli would be deserving of such a career. She has a natural screen presence and is formidable on-screen, conveying emotional shifts with the ease of a veteran. She nails the comedic timing and is more than up to the challenge of portraying her character’s insecurities, especially in the film’s first act, which trusts her performance and the audience to read the character without extra hand-holding. It is a shame the rest of the film does not quite measure up to what she brings to it.
For a while, it does. The movie is at its best in its opening 30 minutes, especially in the small interactions between Charli and her team, like her social media coordinator, played by Isaac Powell, insisting she must say “This is Charli xcx” instead of “It’s Charli xcx,” or her manager, played by Jamie Demetriou, walking her through the ridiculous marketing strategy of a new credit card line tied to the concert. These moments reveal a lot about the industry in smart, entertaining ways.
Which makes you wonder whether The Moment might have played better had it stayed closer to a heightened version of the actual events, instead of fully committing to its “alternate reality” pivot halfway through. As Johannes Godwin, the concert director hired to helm her concert film, steps into the story and starts taking over the narrative, the movie leans more bluntly into its exploration of industry expectations. If anything about this character works, it is due to Alexander Skarsgård’s commitment to the joke, landing a few laughs even as the role becomes increasingly grating.
Johannes enters Charli’s world and immediately pitches a sanitized version of her show. At first, it plays well as comedy, with Charli and her creative ally and friend Celeste trading looks as they clock how out of his depth he is. But eventually, Charli starts buying into the pitch, and that shift pushes her into choices that go beyond simply selling out and giving up creative control.
This turn sees the lead character abandon much of what defined her in the first half of the film, making a 180-degree turn that surprises Celeste and us, the audience. The problem is timing. It comes too late, and it is rushed. What drives her to such radical decisions does not convince. It hints at a deeper character study about how long someone can stay authentic in an industry built to sand down edges, but the film does not follow through. By then, the film has already explored those pressures more sharply, and the character is sidelined as it focuses on plot consequences.
I ended the film without a clear understanding of who the movie’s version of Charli xcx really is, and what Charli xcx and Aidan Zamiri are going for in the last minutes. Zamiri does bring the visual language of Charli’s music to the hectic energy of the first hour, but he loses his grip in the more standard second half, which needed more focus on the lead.
Perhaps the movie needed an outside collaborator who could complement Charli xcx’s vision with an external perspective. Perhaps it needed more musical performances, or a few key scenes that truly drive home the consequences of Charli’s decisions for herself. As it stands, it is a film full of potential, thanks to the fascinating backdrop of the real Brat tour and Charli xcx’s layered performance, but it never quite comes together.
AFTERTASTE
Charli xcx’s attempt at her own This Is Spinal Tap or Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping has real bite in its first hour, especially when it stays with the small, specific industry absurdities around her. But once the story fully commits to its alternate path, the character work gets rushed, and Charli starts to feel sidelined in her own film. Even so, the big takeaway is how convincing she is on-screen. The Moment may not be her greatest moment, but it is a strong argument for her as an actress.