In 1980 Lily Tomlin was faced with a dilemma. She was riding high after winning a Tony with her one-woman play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and then starring in feminist revenge comedy 9 to 5, but then she had to do her next thing. So she delivered Lily: Sold Out, an hour-long TV special about the pressure to compromise a singular artistic vision with something that will appeal to as many different people as possible. (She also won an Emmy for it.) It would be surprising if an English pop singer born in 1992 was familiar with the nuances of Ms. Tomlin’s career, but clearly the ways which the corporate world tries to maximise and extend unexpected success hasn’t changed. Charli XCX has never been anybody’s fool, but she clearly learned a lot from 2022’s documentary Charli XCX: Alone Together, in which she provided a warts-and-all personal picture of the making of her lockdown album How I’m Feeling Now. But that was one thing; the runaway worldwide success of Brat was a juggernaut of an entirely different colour. There’s now much more to protect and it’s unlikely an unvarnished version of her private self will be seen in public again. This means a mockumentary, conceived in secret and filmed without publicity after the Brat summer of 2024, was a very good idea. Unfortunately The Moment is not quite enough.
The idea is simple: our heroine, playing a version of herself, has taken a lot of money from Amazon for a concert film, and that means her close working partnership with her creative director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) must now accommodate movie director Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård having a wonderful time). Johannes is experienced at filming live gigs but a massive fan of Coldplay, so not someone creatively aligned with Charli despite all the goodwill in the world. Charli’s team, headed by Tim (Jamie Demetriou, who is rapidly turning into the new Steve Coogan, which is meant as a compliment) must take many creative meetings with the label, personified by Tammy (Rosanna Arquette, whose presence adds enormous credibility and is something of a surprise). All the creative discussions involve the kind of passive-aggressive side-talk in which everything is wonderful and everything is the best and genuine emotions must be expressed sparingly and in the mildest of language if at all. Charli largely hides behind her sunglasses and allows her team to do the heavy lifting of explaining her ideas, only allowing herself some honesty when half-dressed on a spa table being insulted by the celebrity facialist (Arielle Dombasle also having a wonderful time). Rachel Sennott and Kylie Jenner drop in for cameos, Stephen Colbert sends up the kind of poor interviews Jason Bateman literally just embarrassed himself doing for real, and the level of pressure on Charli is palpable without any self-pity, which only adds to the charm. Everyone wants Charli to do a good job, starting with herself, but the question is whether anyone could in these circumstances.
A big problem is that if you are not already on the Brat train it might be hard to understand just why Johannes’ interference is not only unwelcome but also hilariously inappropriate. The assumption here is that you understand already who everyone is and exactly what Charli’s career represents both in the real world and in the context of this story. But the real trouble is director Aidan Zamiri, who co-wrote the script with Bertie Brandes, doesn’t keep the pace running smoothly. All the interpersonal drama goes on much too long, and the main feeling of the finale is relief that it’s all over, which was probably not the true intent.
If you’re curious about how someone can feel isolated and upset despite never having a single minute alone, The Moment makes that very clear. Mr. Skarsgård’s hilarious performance also showcases how a strong personality can ride roughshod over people used to working in a more collaborative way. But we’ve seen the endless resentment between people with money and people with talent before, so a smarter fictional version of these lives would have figured out a new way to demonstrate the pressures of success. But no one, not even Ms. Tomlin, has been able to solve the very human problem of always wanting more. It’s unlikely The Moment will be that successful, but on the other hand whatever Charli XCX did next was very unlikely to be Brat all over again. At least this has closed the door on that experience and left the way clear for whatever’s to come.
The Moment recently played at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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