Courtesy of A24
Audio By Carbonatix
The green hue of Brat summer has faded into the cooler, crisper tones of winter, but Charli XCX isn’t done redefining the spectrum just yet. If you thought the 2024 album was the crescendo, prepare yourself for the aftershock. The Moment, arriving this weekend across Dallas, isn’t some concert film or documentary. It is a fever dream of fame, a psychological unravelling and a raw, terrifying satire of the very machine that built the pop star in the first place.
We caught a special screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cedars on Tuesday night, complete with a livestreamed Q&A that felt less like a press junket and more like eavesdropping on two creatives breaking down barriers in a way that felt deeply personal and disarming. Before you grab your tickets, here is everything you need to know about the film that turns the “mockumentary” label on its head.
Not Just a Mockumentary: A Psychological Thriller
While IMDb might tag The Moment as a mockumentary, calling it a comedy feels like calling The Shining a hotel management tutorial. Sure, it’s funny — darkly, grimacingly funny, but it operates more like a therapy session gone wrong. As director Aidan Zamiri explained during the Q&A, the film uses Charli’s artistry and the concept of Brat to explore how people often tie their sense of self-worth and purpose to external things, “whether it’s an album, a job or a relationship.” When those things are taken away or no longer feel recognizable, it can be profoundly disorienting.
The Moment serves as an alternate reality in which Charli XCX allows others to mold her vision in the weeks leading up to her Brat arena tour, resulting in a glorious nightmare of conflicting interests. It’s Uncut Gems for the pop princess set, a high-anxiety lead-up to a concert tour where the pressure cooker lid doesn’t just blow off, it disintegrates.
The film’s tone refuses to sit still. One minute, you are laughing at the absurdity of corporate branding. Next, you are assaulted by imagery that feels pulled from a horror film. The opening warning about strobing effects is no joke. Flashes of Charli’s body moving demonically and glimpses of dead birds create an atmosphere closer to Gaspar Noé’s Climax (minus the murder, plus the cocaine energy) than This Is Spinal Tap. As Charli noted in the Q&A, the film “inhabits a bunch of different tones of voice,” swinging from horror to straight comedy to music video aesthetics, often within the same scene.
The Horror of “Brand” and the Absurdity of Fame
The film excels when it pokes fun at the specific, exhausting realities of modern stardom. It is a commentary on the “meeting point of art and capitalism,” where the screen flashes with brand logos whenever the location changes, turning the movie itself into a product-placement satire.
One standout character embodying this friction is Johannes, played with parasitic glee by Alexander Skarsgård. Think of the “spirit fingers” guy from Bring It On, but as a director hellbent on sanitizing Charli’s chaotic energy for “corporate overlords.” In one scene, he suggests changing the iconic Brat green because it “looks like vomit.” Later, he questions the use of the word “cunt” on stage screens, arguing for family-friendly appeal. Charli’s retort is perfect: Her audience isn’t looking to bond with their fathers; they likely don’t even have good relationships with them.
The film is radically vulnerable, exposing the uncomfortable silences between the noise. There is a scene in which Charli is left alone with a driver who has no idea who she is. He Googles her right in front of her, watching old videos and commenting on how she doesn’t look like that anymore. It’s cringeworthy, hilarious and feels painfully true.
In another moment, a fan at a meet-and-greet hands Charli a drawing and casually mentions that her music saved them from suicide before snapping a selfie. The film packages this heavy confession as just another Tuesday, a fleeting moment of intensity that the artist must absorb before smiling for the next photo. It highlights the dissociation Charli spoke about: “feeling on top of the world but [feeling] nothing.”
The Heart of the Film: Friendship and Creative Vision
At its core, The Moment is a heartfelt exploration of friendship. The bond between Charli and her creative director, Celeste (Hailey Gates), serves as the film’s emotional anchor. Their shared vision is repeatedly challenged by Johannes, whose attempts to control their artistic expression lead to some of the film’s most compelling moments.
One particularly striking scene highlights this tension: Johannes questions Celeste’s creative choices, undermining her vision in a way that feels both patronizing and dismissive. This clash becomes a fascinating exploration of a man attempting to dictate a woman’s expression, a theme that resonates deeply in the context of the music and film industries.
Amid the chaos, the friendship between Charli and Celeste shines through, culminating in one of the most beautiful and sincere scenes of acting in recent memory. It’s a moment that underscores the film’s emotional depth and serves as a testament to Charli’s potential as an actress. If this performance is any indication, she deserves to be in more films.
Cameos and Unscripted Chaos
Again, don’t go in expecting a concert film. The stage moments are quick, serving as the backdrop for a narrative film that feels alive and unstaged. As the director mentioned, they “had two cameras going at once so that people had the freedom to perform how they wanted.”
Keep your eyes peeled for high-profile cameos like Rachel Sennott and Kylie Jenner, who are both game enough to poke fun at their own public personas. But the real star might just be the camera itself, which creates an intimate, voyeuristic relationship with everyone on screen.
The Q&A: No Moderator, Just Vibes
The post-screening Q&A livestreamed from Brooklyn on Tuesday night was a refreshing departure from the usual moderated format. Instead of a structured dialogue, Charli XCX and director Zamiri took the reins, interviewing each other candidly and unscripted. It felt more like an intimate conversation between collaborators than a traditional Q&A, channeling the spontaneous energy of an A24 Podcast episode.
Their discussion delved into the creative process, offering unfiltered insights into the making of The Moment. Charli reflected on the challenges of being human, sharing, “It’s really hard being a human, and it can be messy sometimes,” and encouraged the audience to “have grace for yourself and your friends.” She also added with a laugh, “Maybe there’s a bit of that crazy bitch inside us all,” a sentiment that perfectly encapsulates the film’s raw, chaotic energy.
While this Q&A was a special event, it’s worth keeping an eye on theaters like Alamo Drafthouse and Texas Theatre for similar opportunities. These moments add a layer of connection and context, enriching the cinematic experience.
Where To Watch (and What To Eat) in Dallas
You can catch The Moment this weekend at several spots across the Dallas area, including the Texas Theatre, Angelika Film Center at Mockingbird Station, AMC NorthPark and various Cinemark locations.
However, if you head to an Alamo Drafthouse location, you get the bonus of an exclusive themed menu. We tried the Bumpin’ That 365 Churro Popcorn. It’s buttered popcorn tossed in white sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup and vanilla. It costs $14, but honestly? It was tasty as hell. They also have a Brat Cocktail (Malibu and Midori, obviously) and a chicken sandwich with bacon and lemon-garlic aioli. Yum stuff.
The Final Moment
The Moment is a biting, meta-satire that feels immediate, like the events are “just barely in the rearview mirror.” It skewers the pop machine while acknowledging that Charli herself is the fuel keeping it running. It’s messy, it’s loud and it’s surprisingly profound.
If you are looking for a standard music documentary, look elsewhere. But if you want to see an artist dissect their own fame with a scalpel while the world watches, this is the ticket to buy. As Charli said about the film’s core theme, it’s about “how you can feel like you’re being pulled apart.” And what a glorious unraveling it is.
