What actually is Charli xcx’s new film, The Moment? Set in the inescapable Brat Summer of 2024, and featuring Charli as herself in the lead role – not to mention Rachel Sennott, Kylie Jenner and AG Cook all cameoing as themselves – the film is either a mockumentary, a fictionalised biopic, autofiction or a ‘2024 period piece’ depending on who you ask (or, in Charli’s case, which day you ask her). The Moment’s selective reading of reality might raise eyebrows, but it continues a surprisingly rich history of music artists making their own films – a history so rich, in fact, that these films practically have their own genre: musician cinema. 

Most notable is The Beatles’ 1964 feature A Hard Day’s Night, which is arguably the ground zero of this brand of self-satirising, semi-autobiographical musician film. It’s not strictly a mockumentary, predating Spinal Tap’s popularisation of the term by 20 years and sitting much closer to a traditional film narrative. But by casting the band playing themselves at the height of Beatlesmania, A Hard Day’s Night is the first film to articulate the symbiotic relationship between popstardom and cinematic fiction. While not actually pretending to be a documentary – there is no voice-over, no interviews with talking heads, no overt directorial presence – it's filmed in a cinéma-vérité style which lends it a realistic, unfiltered quality, like you've been granted a glimpse into the lives of the band as they go about their day. 

Much like how The Moment weaves reality into a larger-than-life, lime-green universe, The Beatles’ film deepened the characters they were already portraying through their music and public appearances  – a trend that has been survived in countless films since. In A Hard Day’s Night, John Lennon is the cheeky chap poking fun at his “rather straight” grandfather; in Purple Rain, Prince is the talented rebel gunning for stardom; in Spice World, the Spice Girls are using their somewhat intangible ‘girl power’ to fight unscrupulous music execs, and so on. Some of these films sit closer to the light-hearted publicity stunt than the cinematic masterpiece, but, featuring standout soundtracks from the featured artists and contextualising their music for a wider audience, each one has become a cult classic in its own right.

While all of these exaggerated portrayals came across as a knowing wink to the audience which essentially says, ‘this is all a bit of an act’, the bar is set a little higher for Charli’s debut film this Friday – unlike A Hard Day's Night or Spice World, which revolved around fictional performances, The Moment is retelling something we all lived through and in very recent memory: Brat Summer. Trailers for the film depict Charli attempting to beat the audience to the punch by calling Brat “cringe”, but, in recent interviews, she has also called The Moment a “very accurate depiction of what [she’s] experienced in the music industry”. Already, the film is creating the expectation that it will be both ‘not that deep’ and ‘actually kind of deep’. 

Trickier still, early spoilers have revealed that the film entirely sidesteps the co-opting of Brat by Kamala Harris’ failed 2024 US election campaign in favour of the more conventional foil of evil corporations. This begs the question: Is Charli really the most reliable narrator of her own legacy? We’ll let fans be the judge of that on Friday. 

In the meantime, below, we revisit the rich history of musician cinema, from The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night to Eminem’s 8 Mile, and everything in between.  

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (1964)

Much of what we consider to embody modern stardom – crazed fandoms, youthful rebellion and moral panic – was pioneered by The Beatles, and this groundbreaking history is cemented in their 1964 debut film A Hard Day’s Night. Following the band on their way to perform on a televised show, the film’s frequent musical segments – featuring The Beatles performing excerpts of their third studio album of the same name alongside fast-paced, beat-matched jump cuts – are widely regarded as a pioneer of the modern music video format. 

Most important, however, is how the film pioneered what film critic Roger Ebert called a new cinematic “grammar”, pointing out that “quick cutting, hand-held cameras [and] interviews conducted on the run with moving targets” are all staples of modern television today. This, combined with the fact that A Hard Day’s Night is the first example of pop stars making their own film, makes it clear that Spice World, 8 Mile and the rest would all look very different if The Beatles hadn’t done it first. 

PURPLE RAIN (1984)

Prince’s 1984 single “Purple Rain” is legendary: it consistently ranks as one of the best songs of all time, it summoned rainclouds during his 2007 Super Bowl halftime performance, and it even has its own (highly romanticised) feature film retelling its creation. 

Reportedly originating in an ultimatum presented to Prince’s then-manager Bob Cavallo (either land Prince a movie role or he would be fired), Purple Rain sits slightly closer to fiction than the other entries on this list, but is nonetheless inspired by Prince’s real life. It is set in Prince’s hometown, Minneapolis; features the late rock star playing a romanticised version of himself named ‘The Kid’, and is based on plot points of Prince’s own creation. The film might take some questionable liberties (namely, casting both The Kid’s parents as white) and it was nominated for a couple of Razzies (Worst New Star for female lead Apollonia Kotero and Worst New Song for Apollonia 6’s “Sex Shooter”), but it’s hard to hate when it quite literally has one of the best soundtracks of all time. 

Released the same year as Spinal Tap (still to this day the archetypal music mockumentary), Purple Rain is also significant for forming a spiritual ancestor to Eminem’s 8 Mile. In the film, the star-casted lead from a troubled home competes against rival musicians until ultimately winning with a song that became a real-world hit. Sound familiar?

THE NONA TAPES (1995)

Where Purple Rain and A Hard Day’s Night were essentially promos for classic albums, Seattle rock band Alice in Chains flipped this trend on its head in their 1995 short film The Nona Tapes. Created with the budget that was allocated by Columbia, the band's record label, to promote their self-titled third album, The Nona Tapes is a music mockumentary in almost every sense – except that it is about Alice in Chains themselves.

Interspersing talking heads clips of Alice in Chains being interviewed by an aspiring journalist (played by the band’s vocalist, Jerry Cantrell) with found footage segments of the band members going about their daily life, the film is drenched in satire. At one point, the band is asked what they hope people will notice about the new record, only for Layne Staley to respond, “The songs… I hope they notice there are new songs on the record.” Despite initially being infuriated by the band’s use of their budget, Columbia still sold the film (against Alice in Chains’ wishes), and it ended up peaking at number 23 on Billboard’s Top Video Sales chart. 

SPICE WORLD (1997)

Spice World is a classic. Sure, the plot is nothing to write home about, and the film itself is basically a glorified promotional campaign, but following the Spice Girls in the run-up to a major performance at the height of their fame (much like A Hard Day’s Night did with The Beatles 30 years earlier), it is chock full of charm. It's filled with moments which perfectly embody the lovable campiness of 90s family comedies: the band entering their tour bus only to find a Tardis-like interior the size of a full apartment, say, or being abducted by aliens who happen to be huge fans.

The film is also subtly self-aware, with scenes like Mel C poking fun at Victoria for agonising over wearing “the little Gucci dress, the little Gucci dress or… the little Gucci dress!”, or one in which the girls complain about how they get stereotyped as their fictional characters, only to realise that they are all behaving exactly on brand. Spice World strikes a strong balance between fiction and reality. 

8 MILE (2002) 

Eminem might find himself as something of a meme in 2026, but in terms of musicians making their own biopic, 8 Mile is arguably the most successful to date. Like all other films on this list, it takes some stark liberties with the truth: Eminem was actually cast out of the 90’s rap battle circuit for committing the unforgivable sin of pre-writing his lyrics, to give just one example. But winning one Oscar and two Grammys for its soundtrack, the film arguably makes up for that by bringing hip hop to a whole new audience of film critics and suburban mums.

Almost 25 years on from its release, moments like Eminem vomiting in the toilet before the film’s climax or Cheddar Bob shooting himself in the crotch are still referenced in pop culture today. 8 Mile stands as a glittering example of how musician cinema, even with all its selective readings of reality, can make for powerful drama, even quote-unquote serious film. 

PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING: BIG IN JAPAN (2021)

Speaking of serious films, it goes without saying that British mockumentary series People Just Do Nothing (and its spin-off film People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan) is no Citizen Kane. But in the lineage of musician cinema, it is subtly innovative. Based on the star’s own experiences as garage MCs in the 00s, with lead actor Allan Mustafa having had his own music career under the name MC Sniper, the series provides a surprisingly authentic portrayal of UK music, with classic grime instrumentals like “138 Trek” and “Pulse X” appearing in the show. 

It also blurs the line between traditional music mockumentary and musician cinema. People Just Do Nothing might have initially been based around a fictional garage crew named Kurupt FM, but their celebrity soon crossed over into the real world. By the time that People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan rolled around, the group had already performed multiple tours in-character and even released a full-length album, Kurupt FM: The Greatest Hits, which peaked at number eight on the UK charts.