Charli xcx closes 'brat summer' chapter with new mockumentary at Berlin Film Festival
Thomson Reuters
British pop star Charli xcx was everywhere in 2024, when the "brat summer" cultural phenomenon her album unleashed even made its way into US presidential candidate Kamala Harris' campaign.
Some two years since the neon-green party album "Brat" vaulted her into stardom, Charli xcx is characteristically closing that chapter on her own terms with mockumentary "The Moment."
"It's up to the world, but for me it's over," she told journalists at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday when asked whether the "brat summer" cultural blend of music and carefree fashion was over.
"You can't dread the end when it's over, to quote the film."
Charli xcx plays a version of herself in the film, which divided critics when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month.
The film celebrated its Berlin premiere on Saturday night at the luxurious Zoo Palast theatre, where fans had lined up for hours, despite low temperatures, for a glimpse.
Films seem to be Charli xcx's focus for now, with roles in two other films at Sundance, "The Gallerist" and "I Want Your Sex," as well as in the upcoming horror remake "Faces of Death."
Scenarios that are not true but could be
The other version of Charli xcx has also shot to stardom from a niche fan base and must navigate the next steps, even if they are at odds with what her studio envisions for her career.
"The scenarios that we show in the film are not true," she said. "But given a different set of circumstances, they might, and I think I have definitely come close to those circumstances, especially having been in the music industry for so long."
Alexander Skarsgard has a role as an off-putting director sent by the studio to film her concert, while Kylie Jenner, of Kardashian fame, model Julia Fox and comedian Rachel Sennott have cameos in the film as fictional versions of themselves.
The popstar said making the film with director Aidan Zamiri was cathartic in that it allowed her to channel many of the same frustrations she has felt in the real world.
"We've always been very interested in the lifespan of art, the idea of the tension of sort of staying too long, overstaying your welcome in a cultural space," said Charli xcx.
