The Moment

With music biopics rolling in like ice cream carts on summer days (and Michael just around the bend), the pressure is on for filmmakers to find a fresh scoop, a new angle, to keep viewers from feeling oversaturated by the genre. Yet long before The Beatles were showcased in a multi-film cinematic event, the Fab Four were stars of their own celluloid mythology. Playing heightened versions of themselves in films like A Hard Day’s Night and Help! they profited from Beatlemania, while simultaneously making fun of it.

Glaswegian fashion and commercial director Aidan Zamiri attempts a similar tongue-in-cheek approach with his first feature, Charli xcx mockumentary The Moment. The story follows the British singer in the aftermath of her fruitful “brat summer” and viral fame. As she prepares for a tour, she is encouraged to milk the moment by any means necessary – be it through credit card collaborations or an Amazon concert film.

Initially, the feature touches on a number of intriguing moral dilemmas about success: an artist finally finding an audience, only to face pressure to repeat whatever they had been doing, so as not to risk losing the fanbase, while also wanting to evolve creatively. The natural urge of wanting to capitalise on trends, aware of how fleeting the opportunity to do so may be, while struggling with the fear of literally selling out. Unfortunately, the movie may pop the lid of these intriguing ideas but never stirs them, just leaving them to go flat in a haze of strobe lights.

In its attempt at comedy, increasingly absurd predicaments are heaped onto the protagonist, whose response is simply to disengage. While this may align with Charli’s carefully cultivated “unbothered” persona, staring at 100 minutes of a permanent display of ennui becomes grating to watch. The genuinely jocular moments are found in the margins of her predicament, where the supporting cast (namely Rosanna Arquette and Alexander Skarsgård) does the heavy lifting.

The droning editing style is irrefutably trenchant in conveying the desired vibe, but it is a nightmare for anyone with photosensitivity.

It is curious for an artist to willingly position herself as a victim of the industry, especially when vulnerability and emotional exposure are withheld. Charli’s grievances never quite connect with any of the viewer’s own experience and the film isn’t interested in changing this. Though it never claims to be a genuine self-portrait, there is something oddly contradictory about the control The Moment offers Charli xcx over her own image. Strangely, one is left with the sentiment that a conventional concert film might have been more rewarding.