Charli XCX’s Brat Phenomenon Will get A Mockumentary

Who’s Charli XCX? On a base degree, it is a query posed by these out of contact with the music scene of at present, one thing more and more widespread now that music distribution has develop into so scattered by algorithms taking the place of curation. On a deeper degree, the query begs a comply with up: can we ever really know, and why do we have to? This facet has been tied to superstar for eons, and it is one thing which pop stars particularly have regularly struggled with. The “musician film,” for lack of a greater time period, has manifested in numerous guises through the years. People like Elvis Presley and David Bowie went forward and have become full-blown film stars, whereas bands like The Beatles and KISS put themselves into style workouts. Then there are thinly-veiled confessional dramas, like Prince’s “Purple Rain” and The Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” And, after all, there’s the hybrid live performance movie and documentary, from “ABBA: The Film” to Taylor Swift’s “Miss Americana.”

The 2 most foundational musician movies are ones which play quick and free with superstar and actuality: Richard Lester’s “A Exhausting Day’s Night time” (starring The Beatles) and Rob Reiner’s “That is Spinal Faucet” (starring the fictional titular group). It is these two movies which star Charli and co-writer/director Aidan Zamiri’s first characteristic, “The Second,” seeks to aspire to essentially the most. Charli, aka Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is a British pop singer who may nonetheless be referred to as area of interest till her sixth album, “Brat,” exploded in 2024. “The Second” is ostensibly a movie which takes a take a look at the “Brat” phenomenon, solely it does so via a closely fictionalized mockumentary lens. As such, “The Second” isn’t just a realizing little bit of self-deprecation and obfuscation on Charli’s half, however can also be an interesting, typically bitterly hilarious media satire.

Up till “The Second” premiered on the 2026 Sundance Movie Pageant, it wasn’t clear from the film’s advance advertising simply what kind of movie it was to be. Adrian Zamiri and Charli XCX lean into that uncertainty as a part of the efficiency artwork of the film. “The Second” is about throughout the summer season of 2024, when “brat summer season” grew to become a meme together with the album’s rampant reputation. Charli (enjoying herself) is a veteran pop star all of the sudden dealing with worldwide megastardom, and her label Atlantic Information are leaping at each likelihood to capitalize on this newfound success. Blended in with numerous bits of actual life hype and viral moments that occurred within the wake of “Brat” (such because the “Apple” choreography from Tik Tok) are fictionalized incidents, like Charli making an uncomfortable look on “The Late Present With Stephen Colbert” or collaborating in {a magazine} photoshoot the place odd collaborators like Molly (Kate Berlant) stress her into making trite inventive selections.

All of that involves a head with the preparations for the “Brat” world tour, as Charli’s longtime buddy and inventive director Celeste (Hailey Benton Gates) is slowly however certainly pushed apart by the report label in favor of the fashionable and extremely problematic movie director Johannes Godwin (Alexander Skarsgård). It is via Skarsgård’s efficiency that “The Second” actually finds its satiric voice, because the actor creates an indelible, terrible showbiz wolf in sheep’s clothes. Godwin is like John Glover’s character from “Scrooged” dialed as much as eleven. Skarsgård and Zamiri preserve Godwin’s antics each hilarious and plausible, as he dismantles and sensationalizes the live performance (and Charli’s picture) bit by seemingly innocuous bit till it is too far gone. Thus, “The Second” is not a mockumentary about the true life “Brat” expertise and tour, however an alt-history through which Charli sells herself out.

“The Second” will undeniably disappoint followers who come to it hoping to expertise the true life Charli XCX. It is clear that Charli is not all in favour of presenting her true self unfiltered, one thing which most pop stars like to offer the looks of nowadays. As an alternative, her display “Charli XCX” is a intentionally cheeky obfuscation. She’s as a lot sufferer as she is perpetrator; one second, Charli is being railroaded and manipulated by the lads that encompass her, not simply Godwin however her supervisor Tim (Jamie Demetriou), forcing her to hurt her integrity by the use of sycophantic platitudes. One other second, Charli is a sizzling mess, attending drug-fueled ragers and taking off for a trip in Ibiza simply when Celeste wants her most. A big subplot of the movie includes Charli naively agreeing to sponsor a “Brat” bank card marketing campaign and the varied points which spiral from that poor determination.

Charli’s efficiency as this skewed, fictionalized model of herself is fueled by this ambivalence. It isn’t clear which facets of the display Charli are her being confessional, that are her residing out some self-deprecating (or self-destructive) fantasies, and that are her and Aidan Zamiri simply having amusing. But this ambiguity makes her work within the movie that a lot stronger, particularly throughout moments when some reality seems to bubble to the floor. In a single scene, Charli is made by Godwin to rehearse essentially the most private track on “Brat,” “I Would possibly Say One thing Silly,” whereas carrying a gaudy outfit and flying on wires excessive within the air. It is a scene that carries as a lot sincerity because it does satire; whereas this incident by no means really occurred, it communicates Charli the particular person’s anxieties about performing such nakedly intimate ideas and emotions for thousands and thousands.

Along with probably alienating Charli XCX’s fan base, “The Second” dangers annoying anybody coming to see a film a few musician, as there’s merely not a ton of performances in it. There are a pair, certain, and the rating by frequent Charli collaborator A.G. Prepare dinner provides the movie a pulse. But “The Second” just isn’t a music film, not even in the way in which extra experimental efforts like “A Exhausting Day’s Night time” or The Monkees’ “Head” are. As an alternative, the movie it feels closest to is 2019’s “Mister America,” a spin-off of the lengthy operating alt-comedy “On Cinema” universe. That movie, as with all “On Cinema,” options comic Tim Heidecker enjoying a weird fictionalized model of himself, and solely these within the know perceive the myriad deep ranges of satire current in it. Beneath that lens, “The Second” appears uniquely brazen, as Charli and Aidan Zamiri appear to be deliberately seeking to antagonize and problem the viewers quite than enchantment to them.

Thus, “The Second” is mockingly the proper cinematic companion to “Brat,” in that it does its personal factor with out concern for the lots. The added irony on prime, which is that Charli’s new degree of stardom makes such a selection borderline irresponsible or unlikeable, solely makes the movie’s intentions really feel extra resonant, not much less. Most celebrities bristle towards the truth that fame means they now not can totally belong to themselves anymore, and “The Second” as a response to this makes the movie intriguing. Like it or hate it, imagine it to be trustworthy or self-indulgent, “The Second” is a film that refuses to pander, and for that, I admire it. We might by no means know who the true Charli XCX is, however not like the fictional Charli, she appears to be placing herself on the market on her personal phrases.

/Movie Score: 7 out of 10

“The Second” opens in theaters on January 30, 2026.