In a sea of cookie-cutter music biopics and concert films, Charli XCX’s The Moment is able to capture Brat summer in an incredibly refreshing way. The Moment is a mockumentary featuring a mix of real figures playing themselves (like Rachel Sennott, Kylie Jenner and Charli herself), as well as a cast of fictional characters. The film is a meta exploration of the battle between creative integrity and financial and social security that, while a little rough at the start, ended up feeling like a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of artistry and celebrity.
The Moment follows Charli as herself after the release of Brat, the wildly successful album that claimed an entire summer, bled into political campaigning and culminated in the coining of ‘brat’ as the Collins English Dictionary’s word of 2024. The success of Brat was massive in comparison to Charli’s earlier works, catapulting her into the mainstream. In The Moment, Charli attempts to grapple with the album’s reception. She is torn between a fear that once ‘Brat summer’ ends, so too will her time in the spotlight, and a desire to continue making art that feels authentic, rather than conforming to what’s expected of her.
This very real struggle is highlighted through a fictional character, Alexander Skarsgård’s Johannes Godwin. When Charli’s team brings in Amazon Music to produce a film of her upcoming concert, film director Godwin quickly takes creative control over Charli’s show. Godwin’s vision of a PG, family-friendly concert film is clearly at odds with Charli’s party girl branding, but a fear of slipping into obscurity convinces Charli that Godwin might be right.
The Moment is at its best when it’s exploring the complicated balance between commercial success and full creative control, a struggle that Charli is clearly grappling with in real life. Charli is constantly asked to take on brand deals and film advertisements, opportunities which simultaneously limit her creative freedom and provide the means for her to create music and bring her work to a wider audience. It’s a fine line, and one that Charli has been criticized for not balancing well enough: Charli’s roots in the illegal rave scene have given her music and persona an authenticity that feels at odds with the sponsorships she’s taken on in recent years. There's bravery in Charli’s ability to directly confront this in The Moment. The fictional Charli we see on screen is not always sympathetic and exaggerates the flaws that fans have already pointed out in the real Charli’s character.
While the themes of The Moment are incredibly interesting, the film is held back by its slightly amateurish writing. While based on Charli XCX’s own idea, The Moment is directed by first-time filmmaker Aidan Zamiri. The first half of the film is a bit messy and doesn’t find its stylistic footing until the much stronger second act. The collaboration between Charli, Zamiri and co-writer Bertie Brandes, while imperfect, shows promise. While The Moment will inevitably receive much more attention than the average debut film because of its subject, I think that the direction is extremely strong, and I’m excited to see what comes next.
At the center of the film is, of course, Charli, who successfully holds The Moment together. While her character is slightly one-note in the first hour, it’s in the second half of the film that Charli is allowed to show a surprising amount of vulnerability as her conflict with Godwin comes to a head. The Moment is definitely a comedy, but even within the confines of a mockumentary, Charli is able to bring an emotional core that elevates the film to new heights. Charli has numerous acting projects lined up, and between this and her brief role in last year’s 100 Nights of Hero, I’m excited to see how Charli will continue to grow as an actress and filmmaker.
While the beginning of The Moment had me nervous as to how deeply Charli was willing to delve into her own image, I was pleasantly surprised to find a genuinely vulnerable exploration of the state of artistry in 2026. If you’re growing tired of music biopics and the slew of documentaries and concert films coming to streaming this year, don’t shy away from The Moment. Zamiri’s directorial debut is a stylistically sharp, refreshingly unique delve into the world of celebrity.
‘Projections’ is a column focused on reviewing recent film releases.
Nicholas York is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a staff writer for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at nyork@cornellsun.com.
