Erupcja review: Charli XCX’s most promising acting role to date
Over the past few years, Charli XCX has been exploring acting as well as music, racking up film credits like nobody’s business. Most of them have debuted at festivals, but Erupcja is the third to be released on UK shores after 100 Nights of Hero and her mockumentary The Moment.
In Erupcja, which means eruption in Polish, the singer plays Bethany, who goes on a trip to Warsaw, Poland with her boyfriend Rob (Will Madden). She knows that Rob is going to propose on the holiday, and the trip is extended after a volcanic eruption causes their return flight to be cancelled. Unsure if she’ll say yes to the proposal, Bethany basically ditches him to be with her longtime Polish friend, florist Nel (Lena Góra), instead.
Director Pete Ohs wrote the scenes with his actors just before shooting them and it definitely feels like they’re winging it and flying by the seat of their pants. It certainly allows for a lot of naturalism and spontaneity as the actors aren’t overly rehearsed, but there are also some awkward, stilted conversations and the story isn’t wrapped up well. The film is only 1 hour and 11 minutes, and I would have happily taken another 10-15 minutes to conclude it properly on-screen instead of the narrator telling us what happened (this could be a budget issue though).
Speaking of the voiceover, I wasn’t a fan of it at all. This is a film with a young, primarily English-speaking cast, and the narrator (Jacek Zubiel) is an old Polish man. It feels so incompatible. We learn most details about the characters and their relationships through him rather than within the scenes themselves. It really goes against the “show, don’t tell” rule. In addition to the voiceover and the unsatisfying ending, I also wasn’t a fan of Madden. The American actor does a decent English accent, but he seems so focused on getting it right that he overenunciates everything, and you can see his acting against the naturalistic performances of his co-stars.
Erupcja is so different from The Moment and 100 Nights of Hero, which proves that Charli has range and an eclectic taste in films. She never truly disappeared into Bethany, but I forgot I was watching Charli more than during 100 Nights of Hero (The Moment doesn’t count as she’s playing herself). She is low-key and natural and does a good job. Góra is the best of the bunch as the cool Nel – the most normal character – and Jeremy O. Harris adds great value as their friend Claude.
Erupcja feels slight and rushed, and the stylistic decisions don’t always work, but it shows promise for Charli’s acting future.
In cinemas from Friday 5th June