There is a quality that certain artists have which allows them to amass cult followings, beloved by mass audiences who will follow them seemingly to the ends of the earth. Such fame also comes with meteoric expectations, and it’s very possible to disappoint a fan base with a career pivot or the inability to follow up on one hit with another. Charli xcx is very much still at the height of her career, and The Moment is an interesting, unique specimen that both only exists because of her current prominence and also imagines what it might be like for her to experience a downfall.
Charli xcx is preparing for the latest piece of her brat tour, guided by Tim (Jamie Demetriou) and Celeste (Hailey Gates). When Tammy Pitman (Rosanna Arquette) enlists a charismatic, opinionated director, Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård), to make a movie about the tour, Charli xcx finds herself pulled in multiple directions, initially aware of what she doesn’t want but hopeless to figure out what she does as the decisions she does opt to make threaten to hurt her brand in an irreversible way.
The experience of watching this film will depend heavily on audiences’ preexisting knowledge of and affinity for its protagonist. This reviewer is almost entirely unfamiliar with her music but has previously seen her in the forthcoming film Erupcja at the Toronto International Film Festival and two other projects at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, I Want Your Sex and The Gallerist. It’s clear that she is a phenomenon whose popularity won’t soon fade, but the specifics of what’s real in this film as compared with what’s completely made up are more of a mystery, identifiable most by recognizable actors playing parts that aren’t themselves.
This film’s title speaks to the urgency of Charli xcx keeping her momentum going, and how that can lead to considerable emotional drain and pressure that isn’t at all healthy. She has so many people in her ear who don’t all have her best interests at heart, and the one who seems most to – Celeste – feels like she’s fighting a battle all on her own, sometimes even without the support of her star friend. This is a worthwhile exercise in examining vulnerability, and how even worldwide fame isn’t enough to boost egos and prevent crippling anxiety that comes from looking at someone else’s success or hearing a poorly-worded comment from someone with the ability to fill her with anxiety and doubt.
Because she plays herself, Charli xcx is obviously a willing participant in this project, which makes it even more intriguing given that she’s open and eager to the idea of exploring how fragile her success really is. This is ultimately a high-energy, frenetic journey that moves quickly and takes big swings as Charli xcx retreats within herself while the tour threatens to implode around her. While it’s surely heightened from reality, it does feel like it could be an actual documentary rather than a mockumentary if these people were really willing to let themselves be captured on camera saying these things.
Even if she’s playing a version of herself, Charli xcx delivers on all fronts here, painting a very detailed, if deliberately inaccurate, portrait of who she is and how she lives. The cast is very well-assembled, with Demetriou a consistent source of frantic humor and Skarsgård an entertaining send-up of artsy filmmakers obsessed with their own brilliance. Gates, who was previously at Sundance last year as the director of Atropia, may be the film’s standout, honing in on the vision Celeste has but can’t execute on her own because she’s ultimately not the talent. The celebrity cameos work well and are only as distracting as they’re meant to be, and this film is fully engaging from start to finish with all its twists and turns. It’s a fast-moving, claustrophobically chaotic alternate history mockumentary, a genre all its own that, like this film’s title suggests, may be something that could only be made at this very moment in time.
Movie Rating: 7/10
The Moment premieres in the Premieres section at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and will be released in theaters on Friday, January 30th.
