Alexander Skarsgård may steal the show as a toxic director, but he can’t quite save a script that feels more like a “narrative skeleton” than a movie. A look at why this Sundance mockumentary is for the die-hards only.
As the lights dimmed in Park City for the premiere of The Moment, the air was thick with the kind of hyperpop flair that only Charli XCX can conjure.
Coming off the back of 2024’s all-consuming Brat summer, this mockumentary, directed by Aidan Zamiri and picked up by A24, was supposed to be the definitive deconstruction of that era. But as a casual fan sitting in that theater, I left feeling that while the “Brat” aesthetic is iconic, the movie itself is one moment I could have done without.
The Premise: Satire or Just Chaos?
Shot in a high-stakes, realism visual style by cinematographer Sean Price Williams, The Moment follows a fictionalized, aloof version of Charli XCX as she prepares for her 2024 world tour. It’s a mockumentary that attempts to satirize the nightmarish machinery of the music industry.
The premise is solid: A pop star realizing the moment she engineered no longer belongs to her. Fame has calcified into brand. Momentum has turned into obligation. In theory, it’s fertile ground for satire, introspection, and sharp industry critique. In execution, the film is sometimes funny, occasionally interesting, but ultimately undercooked. For a film so preoccupied with excess, it oddly never goes far enough. It gestures toward satire, nods at absurdity, and flirts with psychological unraveling. But too often, the film feels like it’s relying on the genre itself to do the heavy lifting.
The film was reportedly made in the whirlwind tail end of the actual Brat phenomenon, a choice that writer-director Zamiri noted was intended to capture the “terror of letting something go.” The script, co-written by Bertie Brandes, attempts to blend British comedy with Black Swan-esque psychological horror. However, in its effort to be weird and beautiful, it often forgets to be a cohesive movie.
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A Brilliant Villain in a Narrative Void
The undeniable saving grace of this project is Alexander Skarsgård. Playing Johannes Godwin, a passive-aggressive, toxic hack of a director, Skarsgård is brilliantly obnoxious. He anchors the satire with an effortless chauvinism that provides the film’s only real friction. Every time he’s on screen, the movie feels focused; when he’s gone, we’re back to a narrative skeleton of club aesthetics and flashing title cards.
As for Charli XCX, the reviews are calling this a breakout, but I’m not sold. While she is a natural on screen and delivers a borderline heartbreaking monologue about the alienation of fame, there’s a strange detachment in her performance. During the post-premiere panel, she seemed almost ready to move on, echoing the film’s theme that she is “so over” the very era she’s portraying. If the lead is already checked out, it’s hard for a casual viewer to stay checked in.
“I’m really like the me in the film. I’m sort of really wanting Brat to stop and actually really pivot as far away from it as possible,” Charli XCX said during the post-premiere cast Q&A. “And that’s not because I don’t love it; it’s just because I think, for all of us as artists, it’s like you want to challenge yourself and totally switch the creative soup that you’re in and go live in a different bowl for a while and feel enriched by that. That’s how I feel about the projects I’m taking on in film.”
The Industry Pass Problem
There is a recurring issue in entertainment where the industry lets mockumentaries slide. Because the genre is supposed to be off-the-wall and absurd, critics often forgive a lack of substance in favor of vibes. But as journalists, we have a duty to our readers to look past the glitz.
There’s a certain freedom that mockumentaries are afforded that other genres aren’t. Absurdity is expected. Exaggeration is forgiven. Logic can bend, tone can wobble, and scenes can drift as long as the film commits to the bit.
The Moment assumes its audience is already well-versed in the Brat philosophy. For the die-hards, Rachel Sennott playing a fictionalized version of herself and a cameo from Kylie Jenner will be more than enough. But for the rest of us, the jokes are so understated they’re barely there, and the horror and chaos feel like half-finished ideas rather than the wild, intense ride they intended to create.
Final Thoughts
We need to find an honest medium between supporting creative risks and calling out projects that don’t quite land. While The Moment is being touted as a music industry takedown, it feels more like a creative clash that ran dry. It’s chaotic, yes. It’s visually A24-inflected, sure. But is it a necessary piece of cinema? Not really.
Even with Skarsgård’s scene-stealing performance, The Moment proves that Charli XCX should’ve left this project in the past just as quickly as she’s itching to leave the Brat era behind.
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