Review - The Moment

Starring Charli xcx, Alexander Skarsgård, Rosanna Arquette, Hailey Benton Gates. Written by Aidan Zamiri and Bertie Brandes. Directed by Aidan Zamiri. 103 minutes. Rated R. In theaters.

I don’t typically have a lot of patience for Criterion Closet videos. The boutique physical media institution’s savviest bit of marketing involves inviting artists into the office to browse a back storeroom of Criterion Collection DVDs and Blu-rays, filling up a tote bag full of their favorite films while offering commentary on the titles. Like most things in the entertainment industry and life in general, this started out as something cool and niche and became kind of lame when it got co-opted by even more crassly commercial concerns.

While I still believe it’s a net positive for movie culture that Criterion has turned international art cinema into a hip lifestyle brand, it’s also been a drag watching the Closet become another scripted stop on the PR circuit, like a “Hot Ones” for film school dorks. Sorry to be cynical, but I’m not buying Pamela Anderson and Channing Tatum as big Abbas Kiarostami fans. (I was so relieved when A24 abandoned their Oscar campaign for “The Smashing Machine” and thus spared us the sight of Dwayne Johnson pontificating about Fellini in his stupid little serious actor glasses.) Besides, if these people love these movies so much, wouldn’t they already own the Criterions?

I mention this because the most genuine Criterion Closet video I’ve seen some time was one featuring British dancepop starlet and cocaine enthusiast Charli xcx, who whilst rhapsodizing about “Autumn Sonata” told her fans to “skip therapy and watch Bergman.” The advice went viral in my social circles, where folks tend to do both rather frequently. What made the Charli video so disarming was not just her impeccable taste – she also selected “Celine and Julie Go Boating,” “La Notte” and “The Shrouds” – but that she seemed to sincerely love these films and put some real thought into her recommendations, turning a cross-promotion for her new movie into something that felt a little more personal than just another ad. And hey, anything that convinces club kids to watch Antonioni is alright in my book.

That line between truth and brand management is a slippery one in “The Moment,” a semi-satirical mockumentary about the run-up to Charli xcx’s latest tour, following the breakout success of her sixth album, “Brat.” That record’s slime green cover art and “brat summer” phenomenon became rather annoyingly ubiquitous in 2024, and the movie tackles the question of how a major label artist who cultivates an edgy, semi-underground image can stay cool and authentic while also being ridiculously popular and successful. Because if everybody loves you, you must be kind of lame.

One way to get around that is to go make a piss-take “Spice World,” with you and your friends playing exaggerated, unflattering versions of yourselves being preyed upon by even shallower capitalist stooges at the record company. Rosanna Arquette co-stars as a ruthless record exec foisting a “visionary” director (Alexander Skarsgård) on Charli for the production of a concert movie set to stream on Amazon. He and the management team passive-aggressively manipulate our heroine into abandoning her longtime artistic director (a fictional character played by Hailey Benton Gates) and surrendering to a more market-tested, family-friendly approach. Giant screens that flash the word “cunt” are replaced with the amusingly censored “b!tc#” and Skarsgård’s canny operator basically aims to make Charli over into Taylor Swift, though Katy Perry catches a few strays as well. (The shots at Taylor are so savage, it’s actually romantic.)

There’s some very funny stuff about a slime green “brat credit card” aimed at young LGBTQ consumers, a market deeply desired by the floundering bank behind it. The “credit card for gay kids” is intended by the filmmakers as an exploitative nadir for not just the protagonist, but the entire brat phenomenon. Yet I must admit, it’s not too much more embarrassing than when the real-life Charli issued a limited edition vinyl pressing of her record filled with white powder. (Sorry, you can’t be a degenerate and a try-hard at the same time.) In retrospect, historians will probably determine that “brat summer” officially ended when Charli tweeted “kamala IS brat,” and then so began a winter of our discontent that doesn’t look like it’s ending any fucking time soon.

But that’s the thing about pop crazes -- they’re ephemeral. The entertainment industry is designed to try and drag them out until there’s no more money or audience goodwill left to be plundered and everyone just wants you to go away. The Moment is aptly titled because such things are fleeting, and what’s beguiling about the movie is that we’re watching an artist attempt to figure out in real time how much of herself should be for sale. Creating an imaginary version of herself to make all the mistakes she’s trying to avoid is a canny way of having her cake and eating it, too. This way you can cash in and make a non-concert movie that makes fun of you for cashing in and making a concert movie.

As a cranky Gen Xer who long ago aged into an Ethan Hawke character, I’m fascinated by this kind of thing. Trying to remain true to oneself in a world where everything’s a commodity has been the central preoccupation of my generation, one I feared lost amid the “get that bag” corporate hellscape in which we currently reside. To see the 33-year-old Charli so concerned about selling out is even more endearing to me than her love of Jacques Rivette.

I just wish the movie itself was better. The great cinematographer Sean Price Williams works his usual magic in smeary, low-light nightclubs and empty rehearsal spaces. But first-time director Aidan Zamiri has no idea how to pace a feature. The scenes sag and the screenplay (written by Zamiri and Bertie Brandes from “an idea by Charli xcx”) runs too low on jokes, especially in the second hour. I get that it’s a punk rock move to make a Charli xcx movie without any Charli xcx musical performances. But however clever in theory, it hurts the film not establishing her stage persona so we can get a clear feel for what Skarsgård is chipping away at. Then again, I suppose everyone coming to see this movie already knows what Charli’s all about. Let’s hope she doesn’t lose sight of it herself.

“The Moment” is now playing at the Somerville Theatre, the Coolidge Corner Theatre and multiplexes everywhere.