Sundance Review: Charli XCX Mockumentary The Moment is Alternately Silly and Earnest

The Moment finds Charli xcx at a unique moment in her career. After years toiling 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. Does she try continuing 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 keep the proceedings from ever feeling too self-indulgent. 

The Moment utilizes known actors playing amplified versions of themselves as well as different roles à la 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 eager 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 turn as Johannes is The Moment‘s undeniable highlight. He 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 running 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’s a broad range to much of its humor. So while, yes, knowing who Rachel Sennott is does help her brief appearance in a bathroom doing drugs ring more meaningfully, 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 so movie insiders knew they were up on what’s hip in L.A. But through reliance on traditional mockumentary jokes and gags, The Moment can get by without giving into such impulse. At one point, an assistant regretfully informs the record label’s head (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 gags. And while one could imagine more seasoned British satirists like Jesse Armstrong or Armando Iannucci crafting slightly more substantial recurring bits, 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. 

A mockumentary has no business looking this good. Cinematographer Sean Price Williams utilizes blasted-out whites through backlit windows (à la Janusz Kamiński) alongside warm sodium tones (à la 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, though 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 a mockumentary genre that, until now, was content to stick with pithy jokes.

The Moment premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and opens in theaters on Friday, January 30.