Charli xcx could make me watch paint dry on a wall and I would love it. Luckily, she didn’t. She released a movie, a movie that absolutely terrified me.
By 12 noon on Friday, the 20th of February, I was sitting in the cinema awaiting blindness by the opening scenes of ‘The Moment.’ And then again the following day. Oh, and also the day after that. And… maybe I’ll just go see it again tonight?
For those that live a life devoid of a Charli-obsession, The Moment is a mockumentary-style film directed by Aidan Zamiri and based on an original idea by Charli xcx. The film follows a fictional Charli as she prepares for her largest tour ever and strives to create a concert film that will prolong the dying ‘brat summer’. The only trouble is, how will she keep ‘brat’… bratty without it becoming boring?
As said by Charli, this film is like a 2024 period piece, it’s a reality that could’ve been – but thank god it wasn’t.
Aside from my bias to the film’s subject, it truly does stand on its own two feet as a dramatised existence within the music and media industry. The characters are cringey, awkward and use the sort of chat you’d expect on some show-off’s LinkedIn post. Charli’s ‘team’ spends so much time listening to her artistic needs and wants but somehow it goes in one ear and out the other. Her character is self-conscious, vulnerable and increasingly anxious.
Visually, the film is thrilling. It was always going to be. Charli certainly isn’t afraid of a strobe or 100. There’s plenty of neon sprawled around too, in case you were worried your eyes might get bored.
I’ve never known a film to feel so alive as you watch it. Abrasive lighting, sound effects and music all steer the film into its crash course direction. The more Charli strives away from her true self, the more uncomfortable these elements get. You know a bad outcome is approaching, but you’re just not quite sure the damage of it.
From the beginning to the end, you see the decline of Charli’s artistic vision. The opening sequence is bold and brash. Neon shades of all the primary colours laser into your eyes whilst title cards appear fast in block text. Short snippets of Charli see her rolling around on a grimy floor whilst she glares into the camera, all soundtracked by her remixed song, ‘365’. These clips feel taken from what Charli would have wanted as her concert film. What the audience sees at the end is a PG-friendly ‘Brat’, devoid of all offensiveness.
I wasn’t expecting to watch the best film of all time, but I did expect to watch something genius. Amongst the false reality portrayed in the film, Charli managed to sneak in the true emotions she has felt throughout the span of her career. Aspects of The Moment are more genuine than Charli gives it credit for.
Brat is a great album, but sonically, Charli has so much more boundary-pushing work. The album was a vehicle for her to enter a world of commerciality. Anyone can see why you would never want to let this era of your life end when it has brought you the rewards you have been searching for for years.
The Moment is everything I would never want for Charli. It scares me to think that such a world could exist for an artist who has been with me for such a large chunk of my life.
Yet, I can see how easy this trap is for a musician to fall into. The push and pull of where to go next must be an ongoing struggle for anyone in the spotlight.
Whatever Charli does, she does it well. If you get it, you love it. And if you don’t get it, I’m sorry. It just wasn’t for you, and it never will be. We can’t all be 365 party girls.
5/5 Charli – always and forever <3
