There are unmistakable reminders of A Hard Day’s Night in Charli XCX’s satirical mockumentary on the summer that transformed her career. For The Beatles and their minders, this was a whole new class of celebrity. Nobody yet had a scheme for processing the turning of 10 million heads in their direction. Sixty years later, as Charli’s Brat LP spread its greenness to all corners of 2024, a well-honed monetisation mechanism cranked into action and set about bleeding the punters dry.
The musician is to be commended for recognising this and, in collaboration with writer-director Aidan Zamiri, offering a relatively unvarnished depiction of the industry in feeding frenzy. Full marks also for implicating a fictionalised Charli in the self-aggrandisement. This version is capable of doing the right thing until the chance comes along to get one over on a Kardashian.
Sadly, the film’s sardonic edge is dulled by a reliance on stereotypical depictions of philistine self-interest. Who would dream that music-industry hangers-on would be up-speaking solipsists? Well, almost everybody.
There are few jokes here that weren’t made as well in Absolutely Fabulous 30 years ago. To be fair, the slippery dialogue is well observed. “First, thank you for sharing that” is invariably followed by a stream of ruthless deprecation. But even such strong comic performers as Jamie Demetriou, Rosanna Arquette and Rachel Sennott struggle to energise damply written ciphers. Blink and you will miss a criminally underused Philippa Dunne – Anne from Amandaland – as (I guess) another sycophantic hanger-on.
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Still, The Moment passes the time well enough. The unavoidable Alexander Skarsgård maybe fares best as an insufferably insincere film-maker who, hired to make a concert film, immediately attempts to neuter the xcx aesthetic.
[ Charli XCX’s Wuthering Heights album is banging, bonkers and better than BratOpens in new window ]
The musician herself is quietly effective as an experienced musician confronted with overwhelming degrees of unexpected attention.
One for the fans? Yes and no. Charli is front and centre throughout, but we scarcely get to hear one tune all the way through. Maybe she was saving herself. This year, at the cinema, you can also hear her music in “Wuthering Heights” and David Lowery’s upcoming Mother Mary. She also acted in two films at the recent Sundance film festival: The Gallerist and I Want Your Sex. The Beatles were barely so visible.
In cinemas from February 20th.
