153. Charli XCX: Alone Together; movie review

 

CHARLI XCX - ALONE TOGETHER

Cert 15

68 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

I have to confess I had not heard of Charli XCX, aka Charlotte Aitchison, before watching this documentary about her.

So, I found her proactive communication with her fans enlightening and impressive.

However, I was less keen on her apparent need to flash her flesh. She makes good music. Why not lean on that instead of her cleavage and bottom cheeks?

Aitchison, who was brought up in Cambridge and now lives in Los Angeles, rose to prominence in 2012 with an international top ten hit.

She has developed a huge following, especially among the LBGT+ community and regularly appears on her fans' social media forums. 

Bradley Bell and Pablo Jones-Soler's documentary follows her during her lockdown project of making an album in just six weeks.

To lift her and the fans out of the fug of depression caused by the postponement of live music and partying during the pandemic, she asked for their help with ideas and even lyrics.

She talked them through the album process and shared with them breakthroughs and frustrations.

To the outsider she may seem to be a rather cosseted, self-consumed young woman, living amid considerable wealth in Los Angeles.

However, this film shows that, despite her fame, she has the same doubts as anyone and her fans love her for exposing her downs as well as ups.

This is a movie which is aimed fair and square at them - effectively, a thank-you for their support.

It is also short enough to provide an acceptable eye on modern culture for oldies such as me.

Reasons to watch: The making on a unique album

Reasons to avoid: A tad self-consumed

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Did you know? There has been speculation that XCX means kiss, kiss but Charli says she chose the name because she thought it looked cool and sounded catchy.

The final word. Pablo Jones-Soler: "I will always look back at this project as being really fundamental in our career going forward. We always had longer form ambitions, but what this film did was [it forced us to] use the tools [we have while] being restricted... we didn't have any control over the lighting, the shots, the type of camera we're using, we had to completely let go of and accept that." Forbes

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