Charli xcx took the world by storm in the summer of 2024 with her breakout album “BRAT.” From “360” to “Girl, so confusing,” everyone was basking in the glory that was “BRAT summer.”

Charli continued to live in “the moment” that was BRAT, releasing a deluxe and entirely remixed version of the album in 2024. However, BRAT is still alive and well to fans of Charli in the year 2026 following the release of a BRAT centered mockumentary titled “The Moment.”

In this hour and 43 minute long experience, Charli takes the viewer through the downsides of the music industry. In this A24 film, we begin with a seemingly normal documentary about the BRAT era, but we are transitioned into the pressure of fame and how many artists are pushed far out of their comfort zones for the purpose of capitalizing on their popularity. 

Throughout the film, xcx takes many jabs at the toxicity of the music industry and comically ends it with her concert being debuted as an Amazon original, directly displaying how artists capitalize themselves when given the chance to make their fame and wealth last. 

While the film wasn’t particularly emotional and took a light hearted approach to the downsides of popularity in the music industry, there were still moments in the film where we could see Charli facing intense hardships and pressures from the industry that she is in. Overall, the film is funny and perfect for fans of Charli and her music. 

While viewing previews before my screening of “The Moment,” the voice of xcx can be heard singing her original score “Chains of Love” for the 2026 film “Wuthering Heights,” in which xcx entirely created the original soundtrack. 

Released on Feb. 13 along with the film itself, “Wuthering Heights,” the studio album by Charli xcx, is cinematic and a work of art on its own. 

With the release of the first single, “House,” the internet made countless jokes out of the lyrics “I think i’m gonna die in this house.” Despite the comical use of the song, it riled up buzz for the release of the film. 

Along with “House,” “Chains of Love” was released shortly after and absolutely changed my perception of the movie. While I perceived “House” as a comical song, “Chains of Love,” is an absolutely breathtaking track. 

As xcx sings “Can’t breathe without you here / The chains of love are cruel / I shouldn’t feel like a prisoner,” xcx conveys the deep bonds that love forms and how one can feel so trapped within it feeling as if they are a “prisoner.”

Upon the release of the album, the song that stood out most to me was “Altars.” With the incredibly catchy chorus, xcx sings “One is not the loneliest number / Won’t keep puttin’ all my faith in you,” flipping the script on the normal narrative that is one must be dating to be happy, but in this case, being single would be better than staying in the relationship that is keeping her trapped. 

Despite the catchiness and artistry of the “Wuthering Heights” album, the movie itself is a disgrace to the original story in the novel created by Emily Brontë. 

The main bits of controversy surrounding the film included the age of the cast compared to the age of the characters in the novel, and most of all, the race of the main male character. Heathcliff, played by Jacob Elordi, is originally said in the novel to be a “dark skinned gypsy,” with his race being a major factor of the plot. 

According to Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, writing for the Guardian, the act of casting a white man to play a character meant to be portrayed by a person of color has removed a crucial part of the novel’s meaning, “There’s something outrageous about the stripping away of the politics of Wuthering Heights, but not in the rage-baiting way that I think the director intended,” said Cosslett.  

Aside from the controversiality of the race of the cast, the main characters portrayed by Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, aged 28 and 35, once again moves further from the original plot with the novel portraying the two in their mid-teens to early 20s with Catherine dying at only 18. 

Overall, the casting of Robbie and Elordi were both far from accurate to the original and were in every sense the incorrect choice. 

Some side with the director, Emerald Fennell, in her adaption of the beloved novel as being her own perception of it and titling the movie with quotations around it to allow more leeway to stray further from the original meaning of the story. However, the adaption itself displays the lack of intention Fennel had when creating the film as she nearly created an entirely new story. 

Despite all of my pre-conceived notions, I attempted to enter my viewing of the film as non-biased as possible, being that my prior knowledge of the story is very slim. 

Ultimately, both visually and sonically, the movie was beautiful. The color palette, full of dark reds and whites, as well as the sound track both remained cohesive and gorgeous throughout the entirety of the film. The moments of happy youthfulness were brightly lit whereas when faced with hardship, the characters were often caught in the dark, pouring rain. 

However, all of the characters independently had very few redeeming qualities. The love of Heathcliff and Catherine is incredibly toxic with Catherine leaving him for a wealthy man and spending the rest of her years regretting her decision even on her deathbed. 

The two constantly hurt each other both mentally and physically, swearing that they would never forgive one another if they hurt them again, but alas, they would get hurt again, and their relationship would still never be altered. 

It was a frustrating relationship to witness and although it felt as if I was meant to feel remorseful for these characters, their wrong doings and emotional abuse to their current partners made both of them very unlikable. 

The film as a whole was very entertaining, but the provocative imagery and so called “message” regarding the destructive nature of love in the movie fell flat and was unfortunately lessened due to the countless explicit scenes of Cathy and Healthcliff that could have been done without. 

All in all, the film does not provide anyone with a happy ending, leaving characters deceased or with a part of their “soul” that has died, but honestly, they weren’t very deserving of a happily ever after anyway.