Charli XCX brings bratty attitude to “The Moment”
Kid summer is dead. Long live summer for kids. The summer 2024 lime color craze that has confounded and bewitched culture becomes a channel for artistic introspection in the new Charli XCX vehicle “The Moment.” This concert mockumentary, directed by Aidan Zamiri, written by Zamiri and Bertie Brandes, is based on an original idea by pop superstar XCX, who plays a version of herself, wondering when and how she can and should let “kid” die, and if that’s even something that remains within her control.
“The Moment” is a cheeky send-up of concert films that aligns with XCX’s saucy club rat stage persona, which raises a middle finger to the pop star’s pitch-perfect aesthetic. But in “The Moment,” XCX and Zamiri peel back the layers of tattered tank tops and artfully blasé styling to reveal the woman behind the wraparound sunglasses and expose the work that goes into “party girl 365.” Charli
“The Moment” follows in the tradition of films like “This Is Spinal Tap” and the lightly fictionalized Beatles documentary “A Hard Day’s Night.” But often, “The Moment” feels more like “The Office,” a very British, very dry, situational sitcom set in the pop superstar’s world.
The film opens as one might expect, with a loud strobe sequence that intercuts Charli writhing on the floor with her signature text and font-heavy lists of references (a title motif that continues throughout). But the camera holds while the music stops, and Charli remains wet and panting on the floor, asking if she should go back, the first exposure of vulnerability behind the powerful and seemingly impenetrable image.
Charli, the artist, is singular in her vision and voice, but she always struggles with outside pressure, from random drivers to senior executives. The plot follows her journey as she prepares for a big farewell show with her creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates), the two women thinking about how to put a bullet in a kid’s head, as a concept, knowing that its time will always expire. A wrinkle arrives in the form of a concert documentarian hired by her label, Atlantic Records.
Let’s just say Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård) is a little too Coldplay, while Celeste is more Berghain – and the two will never meet. Caught in a tug-of-war between her team and her creative partner, Charli succumbs, revealing her insecurity and susceptibility to outside forces (embodied here by none other than Kylie Jenner). Can she maintain the ineffable kid I don’t know what? Or will she be swept away by the tidal wave of normie pop?
That’s the conflict at the heart of the story, which Charli expresses beautifully in a third-act monologue, but “The Moment” is also a hilarious satire of the music industry, bringing together celebrities playing versions of themselves (Rachel Sennott) and comedians playing members of Charli’s team (Jamie Demetriou as her ineffective manager).
Casting director Jennifer Venditti filled the cast with new faces like Richard Perez and talented rising stars like Isaac Powell, as well as icons like Rosanna Arquette, who plays the head of Atlantic Records. Gates stands out in the supporting cast, delivering a strong performance as a creative woman who is constantly undermined by the men in the room.
But XCX takes center stage as the funny, exhausted Charli, who finds herself in a lime green two-piece, hoisted in a harness atop a giant pyrotechnic lighter as part of her unfortunately misbegotten show, hijacked by Johannes, who clearly has no idea what “brat” means.
“The Moment” works best when it examines the creative tensions between people with different agendas, the small passive-aggressive tensions and questionings generating the ripples of conflict. But perhaps Zamiri felt these stakes were too small. There’s a strange and ill-advised third act involving a bank crisis and a kid’s credit card (an admittedly funny bit) that just seems forced within the framework of this story.
It’s a wobble that could have upended this otherwise amusing and insightful satire of the concert film genre that has cropped up in recent years. Charli gives us her version of that, but of course, she does it her own way – with a healthy dose of irreverence and bawdy attitude. But she shows the hard work and sweat that goes into it all, revealing that being a “kid” isn’t easy at all. It’s good to know she cares.
Katie Walsh is a critic for Tribune News Service.
“The moment” – 3 stars (out of 4)
MPA Rating: R (for language used throughout and some drug-related material)
Duration: 1:43
How to watch: In theaters January 30
