The Moment finds musician Charli xcx at a unique moment in her career. Toiling for years as a niche artist with a devoted fanbase, the album brat catapults her to global stardom. But with her brat summer tour over, what’s the next move? Charli’s team, which seems to be growing by the day, all seem to have separate answers to that. Does she try and continue brat summer indefinitely, cashing in at the risk of damaging the brand she spent so long cultivating? Some tell her she would be dumb not to. These evergreen artistic questions—LCD Soundsystem wrote a song about this—are pondered earnestly throughout The Moment. But as a proper mockumentary from a mostly British team, a bevy of jokes and inspired gags keeps the proceedings from ever feeling too self-indulgent.
The Moment utilizes known actors playing amplified versions of themselves as well as different roles—ala Curb Your Enthusiasm. Kate Berlant shines early on as a weirdo makeup artist who thinks she’s closer with Charli than she actually is. Jamie Demetriou stands out as Tim, Charli’s manager, nebbish and conflict-avoidant, but always willing for backroom dealing when it suits his interest. Hailey Benton Gates is Celeste, Charli’s creative director who is squeezed out of the process of overseeing this arena tour with the arrival of Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård), a self-serious, weirdo Scandinavian who specializes in directing concert films.
Skarsgård’s performance as Johannes is the undeniable highlight of the film. His character attempts to mask his traditional big dick director energy by deploying corporate speak to lend the impression of listening equally to everyone, when it’s apparent he prefers to run the shoot as the singular visionary he believes himself to be. This corporate therapy-speak throughline, though not entirely fresh, is still effective and successful because of Skarsgard’s wholly committed performance. He’s a joy to behold, whether present in the foreground, posturing at not wanting to interject his opinions while doing just that, or quick shots of him in the background, waving manically, attempting to relay his vision. He also comes with a completely silent assistant whose severe listening face makes Charli’s team uncomfortable and has Johannes instruct her to “continue listening but less intensely.”
One might question how into Charli xcx one has to be to find The Moment engaging. Most of the opening night crowd at the sold-out Eccles premiere—many of whom waited outside for over an hour in the bitter cold to get in—were in on the reference points. But there is a broad range to much of the humor. So while, yes, knowing who Rachel Sennott is does help her brief appearance in a bathroom doing drugs ring more meaningful, it’s not absolutely necessary. A humorous cameo with a Kardashian is entirely dependent on knowledge of who she is, but who watching this movie won’t recognize her?
The Moment shines by not being overly referential. Both I Love LA and The Studio felt the need to name-drop Courage Bagels for instance, so movie insiders knew they knew they were in on what’s hip in L.A. But through reliance on traditional mockumentary jokes and gags, The Moment can get by without giving into this impulse. At one point, an assistant regretfully informs the record label head, played by Rosanna Arquette, that the airport exploded her luggage. The “again?” response is unexpected and deeply funny. The film is full of quick throwaway jokes like this, alongside more constructed visual jokes. And while one could imagine more seasoned British satirists like Jesse Armstrong or Armando Iannucci crafting slightly more substantial recurring gags, as a first-time feature from filmmaker Aidan Zamiri and his writing partner Bertie Brandes, it’s a strong calling card, illustrating promising things to come for them in the comedy genre.
Visually, a mockumentary has no business looking this good. Cinematographer Sean Price Williams utilizes blasted out whites through backlit windows (ala Janusz Kamiński) alongside warm sodium tones (ala Paul Thomas Anderson), and it’s breathtaking throughout, elevating the film beyond a mere experiment in attempting to marry memoir and mockumentary. Charli’s performance as herself is built on vulnerability, and she’s largely up to the task, although one third-act confession verbalizes this vulnerability too literally. It’s better left conveyed through the visual language of Williams’ intimate handheld close-ups.
With a cavalcade of hilarious bits, inspired cinematography, and a willingness to earnestly be about something, The Moment serves as a bold reinvention of the mockumentary genre that until now was content to stay put in pithy joke territory.
The Moment premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and opens in theaters on Friday, January 30.