Reporting from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

If Charli XCX had her say, brat summer would be here to stay. If her label, manager, world tour crew, and dozens of hangers-on had their say, brat summer would never go away. The goals are the same, but the reasons behind them are very, very different.

Directed by Aidan Zamiri, who directed XCX’s video “360,” The Moment is one part autofiction, one part mockumentary, all parts agitating. The Safdie brothers certainly put a mark on A24 with their hyper-kinetic style of anxious filmmaking. But with 2025’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and now The Moment, there’s a sense the counterculture studio is finding a lane that’s bound to make a few viewers seasick.

It’s also exhilarating. From the opening strobe effects to the titles that appear on screen so fast you can barely digest their information, The Moment captures the runaway train that Charli would love to get off if someone, anyone, around her had an ounce of sense beyond dollars. The only time the movie drags is when it slows down for Charli to deliver a heartfelt message to the one artistic collaborator worth an ounce (Hailey Gates). It’s a sweet moment, but it’s also the only moment that betrays the madcap antics of the production—one where Alexander Skarsgård almost steals the show as a concert film director slash Svengali. Everyone here is giving it their all, but Skarsgård is letting it all hang out and loving it.

The Moment will be distributed by A24.