We all crave fame, whether it’s the recognition as being a pioneer of your chosen field, or the ability to live a life of luxury and wealth that many of us can only dream of ever achieving. Who among us hasn’t at some point in our lives fantasised about the idea of performing in front of a sold-out stadium, surrounded by thousands of fawning fans who travel from every corner of the globe to be entertained. While the vast majority of us will never know what that feels like, some people are more than willing to put in the work to give us a taste of that lifestyle, which can often be intriguing and revealing, especially when it is done with the right intentions. For the better part of the decade, Charli XCX has been steadily rising in popularity, carving out a niche for herself through making music that is both adherent to the demands of audiences and unique enough that she is forging her own identity, going against many of the more troubling principles plaguing the music industry. The most recent peak of her popularity came just under two years ago with the arrival of her album Brat, which was not only a critically acclaimed work that managed to reach far beyond her usual fanbase (being embraced by a much wider range of listeners, who were immediately smitten with her unique style of music), but became a cultural moment in itself, particular when she proclaimed the beginning of “Brat Summer”, aligned with a principle that is somehow both impossible to define and universally understood. Yet, behind these dazzling live performances and the cultural spectacle that accompanied this phase of her career, we find someone who worked laboriously to juggle both her unique artistry and the challenges of being not only famous but also incredibly influential. Charli XCX uses all of these experiences as the foundation for The Moment, a mockumentary she developed alongside Aidan Zamiri (a photographer with whom she had a long creative partnership, and who is making his directorial debut), based on an idea she had while in the midst of the arena tour that she took around the world, acting as a fictionalised (and highly embellished) attempt to filter the many complex emotions she felt during this time into a single coherent piece, covertly becoming one of the year’s most unconventional and profoundly unhinged works that is as insightful as it is unquestionably entertaining.

There has been some comparisons between The Moment and A Hard Day’s Night, insofar as they are both well-made mockumentaries developed as a collaboration between an artist at the peak of their popularity and their closest artistic comrades, in an effort to shed some light on what it is like to be a performer at a particular point in history. For many years, we’ve come to view Charli XCX as a character, a persona adopted by someone who has chosen to intentionally step behind a facade that she carefully curates, which she uses as the foundation on which she can build a particular identity while also protecting who she is once she steps backstage – not necessarily of the arenas and concert halls that she uses to express herself, but rather the more metaphorical space that casual viewers and even some of her closest collaborators don’t always get to see. This film is her attempt to draw the line between Charli XCX and Charlotte Aitchison, a division that is not made very clear, solely because she intentionally keeps the latter more guarded, only giving us momentary glimpses into the person behind the mask. This is all part of her attempt to explore fame from the perspective of someone at a very particular peak in popularity – this is the version of Charli XCX with which we are all most familiar, and therefore the film feels much more timely and urgent, a glimpse into the trials and tribulations of someone who is still experiencing this extraordinary amount of acclaim and attention, rather than being a retrospective look at her experiences once more time has elapsed. The result is an invigorating, captivating examination of fame and artistry, two elements that we naturally assume to be directly connected, but which the film proposes is far less copacetic than we would think. We don’t often find such revealing, honest explorations of the perils of worldwide fame produced while the subject is at their peak, which immediately makes The Moment stand out as more than simply an effort to reflect on the Charli XCX legacy, but rather an attempt to capture as much of its unwieldy charm as possible while it is still at its apex, a smart decision that immediately establishes this film as one of the strongest depictions of celebrity culture we’ve seen in quite some time.

Considering all of this, we initially have to wonder why Charli XCX and Zamiri chose to develop The Moment as a mockumentary, rather than taking the usual approach that many musicians take when attempting to portray their experiences on screen, which is to produce a hybrid of a documentary and concert film, particularly since they tend to be very successful solely based on the fact that many people are willing to see anything featuring artists they adore. My initial reaction was to just attribute it to the fact that Charli XCX has positioned herself as a multidisciplinary artist, someone who may work primarily in music, but has expressed interest in other media as well, already having dipped her toes into acting, which is proving to be an ongoing endeavour based on some of her upcoming projects. However, there is slightly more nuance here, beyond the idea of her just wanting to become an actor – the mockumentary, while a common format, is something of a sacred genre, especially when we remove the cheaper aspects that come pre-packaged with these films and focus on what it is that makes them so compelling. We’re predisposed to being drawn to true stories, and while we may know that this is a fictionalised story, it still panders to the part of our consciousness that doesn’t immediately recognise the division between fact and fiction, since so much of this film is presented to us as being steeped in reality. Telling a semi-fictional story not only lends the film some flexibility and gives it the chance to heighten the dramatic impact (especially since it allows the subject to showcase her own cheeky sense of humour and penchant for a very specific kind of artistic absurdity), but it also underlines some of the more peculiar aspects of these themes. We didn’t need yet another film in which a world-renowned pop star waxes poetic about how difficult it is to be adored by fans across the globe, and while this does factor into The Moment in some ways, its much smarter in how it chooses to structure itself, being slightly more rigid in terms of its themes (a result of it being mostly scripted, even if we can tell a lot of the film was improvised, especially in the scenes where various people play themselves) and being less about Charli XCX lamenting on the perils of fame, and more a dynamic, off-the-wall satire that is much sharper and more insightful than it would have been had it been developed as a more conventional documentary work.

One of the most delightful outcomes of the rise of Brat and the discourse surrounding it is the realisation that Charli XCX is a very interesting character in her own right, someone with a distinct worldview and a curious approach to how she expresses herself, to the point that even those who may not necessarily enjoy the music (although I’d say they’re in the minority – the album has been celebrated as being one of the most successful examples of crossover appeal of the current decade) can at least appreciate her off-kilter point of view and very distinct personality. We’ve come to realise that she is constantly engaged in the act of performing a specific character, even if its deeply rooted in reality, so it seemed inevitable that she’d decide to move into acting as a secondary career, especially based on how much she allows film to guide her artistic decisions, much of her work having some degree of cinematic influence, even if only marginally. Needless to say, despite not being a professional, she is a remarkably talented actor – she’s clearly a newcomer, and some of her skills still need to be sharpened, but her ability to command the stage is carried over to this film, where she demonstrates a terrific screen presence. Some would assume that it isn’t a particularly challenging task to play yourself in a film, but this overlooks the fact that it can be an even more difficult assignment, especially when handling some of the more complex subject matter, such as the obstacles that come with someone’s attempts to balance fame with their internal existential quandaries. Needless to say, her performance is terrific, bringing so much unique energy and charm to a story that is built from her own personal challenges with navigating being both a recognisable pop superstar adored by the global audience and attempting to filter genuine truths into every word she wrote. The rest of the cast does do a bit more of the heavy-lifting in terms of dramatic material, primarily to ensure everything seems authentic. We have yet another wildly offbeat performance from the always terrific Alexander Skarsgard, strong work from future stars like Hailey Benton Gates (delivering maybe the best performance in the film), Isaac Cole Powell and Jamie Demetriou, and the rare sighting of Rosanna Arquette, who is still able to command the screen like she did when she was at her peak. The Moment has several cameos from a range of public figures, which lends the film an additional layer of authenticity, while also offering some further insights into the experience of existing in a world where celebrity culture has been allowed to spiral radically out of control.

We’ve grown so accustomed to the mockumentary structure following the gag-a-minute approach, in which every moment has to contribute to the offbeat, over-the-top humour, that a film like The Moment seems so much more subdued by comparison. There is a lot of humour embedded in this film, but it’s not a particularly funny work – the black comedy is more aligned with the director’s desire to underline the absurdity that comes with navigating celebrity culture. We don’t often see films that are this adamant in exploring the different avenues that those in positions of influence – even something considered trivial like a pop star – have to traverse to maintain not only their sanity, but their reputation as well. There’s a lot of humour that emerges through simple interactions – moments like when Charli XCX runs into Kylie Jenner at a health spa (the latter also proving to be a surprisingly strong actor, although we can argue she has always been engaged in the act of performing for the cameras since a very young age, so it all comes naturally to her) or the staggering amount of work that goes into planning a concert – including a continuous stream of mishaps that could be an outrageous comedy all on its own – give The Moment a very unique comedic tone, one that isn’t always outrageously funny, but rather more gentle and purposeful with how it utilises humour. Naturalism may not have been the overall priority here, but it certainly does not go to waste. The intentions of the film do become more clear as we watch it, and any idea that it is purely a vanity piece on the part of the subject erode once we see the extent to which she is willing to bare her soul, almost to the point where we genuinely have to wonder whether she decided to create a fictionalised version of this tour solely as a means to filter the many complex emotions she felt in a way that felt direct but not confrontational. It’s a genuinely moving piece of cinema that finds emotional resonance where we least expect it, which is part of why it is very easy to become entranced by The Moment, since it is not a film that relishes too intensely in trying to be quirky or funny, and focuses instead on authenticity more than anything else, becoming very effective in how it captures the many nuances beneath the surface of the film, most of which will come as a surprise to those expecting something more conventional.

The great irony of The Moment is found in its title – while it is very much about the present moment and how Charli XCX handled this particular chapter in what is already a very influential career, its very likely that we’re only going to be able to grasp the full scope of this film once some time has passed, and we’ve put a bit of distance between this era and whatever is coming next. It’s clearly the kind of satire that we can appreciate now, but will only be able to fully understand once we’ve had the time to sit with it, focusing on the underlying themes, which I suspect will only become more relevant as time goes on. As they often say, reality is usually stranger than fiction, and nothing underlines this more than an offbeat mockumentary that somehow reveals more truths through intentional fabrication than it ever would have been able to achieve had it focused solely on presenting reality, or whatever its closest approximation would be. Even if one may not necessarily subscribe to the overall theme of a pop star navigating the perils of being seen as a “party girl” when all she wants to do is express herself in her own way, we can at least appreciate the insights offered into the experience of existing within the public eye, which is not an easy place for anyone to exist. It’s far from the treatise against fan culture that we would expect (if anything, the film is very clear in acknowledging Charli XCX’s affection for her fans and how much she appreciates them – the satire is more directed towards the critics and industry folk who view her as a commodity more than an artist, someone whose success is not based on critical acclaim, but rather popularity, a sad reality that we find this film being more than willing to address in detail), and functions as a well-crafted, deeply compelling blend of dark humour and sincere, character-based drama. It’s not a polished film, but it is in these moments where it is most raw and crude that we find the most honest, sincere conversations occurring, revealing the truth of what it is like to exist as a public figure, which can be a double-edged sword, especially for someone navigating such an intimidating amount of attention. The Moment is a tremendous film, an easygoing but captivating work that may not redefine the genre, but does just enough to be a strong work all on its own, being much stronger and more sincere than one would expect based on a cursory glance.