The Moment
Rating: 4/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
I remember explicitly when BRAT Summer took over the world back in 2024, with Charli XCX's album making headlines and being the "it" album to listen to during that time. Personally, for me, I didn't really jump on the train, nor did I really listen to the album much. I knew a couple of the songs, but when I listened to the album in its entirety on the drive to my theater to see her new film from A24, The Moment, I totally understood why this album was as big as it was. I was excited to see how this film, that was written by Aidan Zamiri and Bertie Brandes, with Zamiri in the director's chair, was going to explore and capture this major moment in recent music history. This mockumentary-style picture surprised me with how witty and bizarre it is, with a surprisingly great performance from Charli XCX herself.
The movie follows a fictionalized version of Charli as she tries to cope with how huge BRAT has become. She is beginning her tour to promote the album, which she has carefully started planning and choreographing with her friend and creative director, Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates). However, when her label starts to intervene and try to get her to make a concert film from major director Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård), things start to go off the rails as her crew start butting heads and effectively ruin this album and movement that Charli had created.
I was excited to see this project that Charli and Zamiri had created, but doubt set in as it seemed like another version of The Weeknd's horrendous film of last year. While I wanted to limit my expectations, I simply kept finding myself being very excited for this film, and it only grew when I saw the coverage for it at Sundance and the promotion from A24. Thankfully, the filmmakers here prove that they are able to take a scenario like this and craft a great, tongue-in-cheek film about celebrity stardom and trying to be yourself in this society where it is dangerous to be different. The movie shows how Charli wants to represent her brand as a singer while also showing how the higher-ups and other creatives want to limit what she is trying to convey through her music and performances. It is a fantastic representation of how artists aren't truly able to express themselves and many find themselves trapped in this box of playing it safely.
However, with that being said, there are moment where the film does run a little too long or seem a little unfocused, especially the beginning. It seems like the filmmakers had an idea of what the story was that they wanted to tell, but had a hard time figuring out how to introduce this world and these characters that would influence the story. There were times through the beginning where I wasn't too sure where they were going and was worried that they wouldn't be able to pull this off, but they thankfully recover quite well and go on to tell this story in an effective and enjoyable way.
While I really enjoyed the message of this movie, and how it almost pokes fun directly at some of the artists working in the musical landscape today, the filmmaking techniques here are quite interesting and unique. This film is shot documentary-style, with cameras catching Charli and her collaborators and friends at different angles and in the oddest of settings. Whether this is working with her creative director during concert rehearsals or snorting lines with Rachel Sennott, this movie aims to capture everything that this fictional version of Charli is doing. While it may be based on real events, they do a great job of capturing an insight into her everyday life and shows the psyche of a woman who is being pushed and pulled in every different direction. Because of that, I think the cinematography is very interesting and unique, with close-up shots and prolonged scenes that are shown through glass windows. We are, in a way, "outside looking in" throughout every single thing Charli does. The cinematography may be jarring at times, but it works quite well.
The thing that surprised me the most about this picture was the acting performance from Charli XCX. She does a fantastic job of playing this fictionalized version of herself, and there are moments that shine bright. Consider the scene where she fully snaps and breaks down when talking to her manager Tim (Jamie Demetriou). She definitely commands the attention of the viewer and controls the whole scene, presenting a great, emotional monologue that instantly made me respect her as an actress. At the same time, the performances around here, especially Skarsgård, Demetriou, and Gates, do a wonderful job of adding in these colorful characters into Charli's life that contributes to everything going off the rails.
Not only did The Moment make me a fan of Charli XCX and the BRAT album as a whole, but it showed me how films like this could work if they are given the right story and made by the right director. This movie simply won't be for everybody, which is evident by the people that walked out of my theater, but people who are interested in Charli or this type of filmmaking will definitely enjoy it. I'm truly hoping this will open the door to allow more artists to take the risk of making a film like this in the future.
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