Charli XCX takes on takes on the music industry in “The Moment”
Charli XCX explores fame and failure in new mockumentary.
By Ella Walken
After the explosive success of her dance pop album “brat,” it’s hard to imagine how musician Charli XCX could further her reach into pop culture. With multiple hit songs, massive brand partnerships and Grammy nominations galore, one might assume the artist felt in control of her career and on top of the world.
Charli’s mockumentary, “The Moment” directed by Aidan Zamiri uses a satirical alternate universe version of her success to explore the difficulties of trying to maintain artistic integrity and autonomy during a meteoric rise to the A-list.
The film finds Charli preparing to begin her very first arena tour, a major step into true pop stardom. The film is self-deprecating and dryly funny, taking shots at both individuals in the music industry and the systems they work for.
The film truly shines in its brilliant cast, supporting performances and cameos. Jamie Demetriou portrays a well-meaning but misguided manager who can’t get out of his own way. Kylie Jenner is absurdly funny in a brief but memorable scene as herself, playing the picture-perfect foil to Charli’s disheveled chaos.
Stellan Skarsgård plays Johannes, an overbearing and out-of-touch director hired to create Charli’s concert film. He is a beanie and scoop neck T-shirt wearing director who wants to separate Charli from everything that defines her immense success. Johannes is convinced the tour and film can only be successful if they are stripped of the grit and grime that characterizes “brat.”
The scenes where Skarsgård is confronted by Charli’s creative director Celeste, played by Hailey Benton Gates, are particularly amusing. Johannes and Celeste passive aggressively circle each other, quietly fighting to land their creative vision on top. The interactions between the pair are not only effective in their humor but exemplify the push and pull between authentic artistic expression and commercial success.
Charli begins to buckle under the pressure of the label, which encourages her to stay artistically stagnant. Charli, the character and real human, has never existed under this much mainstream pressure. Eventually, this isolation and lack of support sent her spiraling into implosion.
At times, the script feels overwritten, and the comedy doesn’t always land, but “The Moment” is consistently interesting. The film asks the viewer to consider the value of staying true to one’s own artistic ambitions in a hyper-capitalist environment. Perhaps most importantly, it forces viewers to confront what happens to a person when their agency is taken away.
It’s a vulnerable act to publicly reflect on one’s legacy, but even more daunting at the peak of one’s career. As discussed in the film, Charli XCX has found mainstream success in brief pockets of her career but had never really held onto it for long before “brat” took the world by storm.
Through over a decade of following her unique vision, Charli managed to curate a loyal and fierce fan base who are willing to follow wherever inspiration takes her. “The Moment” finds an artist lost in her own success, being pulled apart by the demands of the world.
