Last Night in Soho

From the writer-director of Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy comes a stylishly crafted, smartly photographed & skilfully acted psychological horror that's swirling with nostalgia & affection for the Swinging Sixties. Last Night in Soho attempts to capture the dangers of romanticising the past while showcasing the dark side of show business only to throw it all away in the end.

Co-written & directed by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim & Baby Driver), the first hour is carried out rather well with steady build-up and deft juggling of drama & mystery but the story also falls flat once it enters the third & final act. The horror elements don't pack a thrilling punch either, offering nothing new or effective. As for the script, the writing is substandard at best and required more polish.

The camera also exhibits restraint in its manoeuvring which is unusual for a Wright film but that doesn't mean it's lacking creativity, for it still packs some neat techniques & ingenious tricks. Editing is inconsistent with the narrative flow & pacing while the music brims with 1960s flavours. Thomasin McKenzie & Anya Taylor-Joy contribute with splendid performances and are finely supported by the rest of the cast.

Overall, Last Night in Soho is visually striking and has no trouble whatsoever in transporting its viewers to a bygone era but it also runs out of ideas as it nears its conclusion and settles for an insipid ending. The film does impress in bits n pieces, especially with its neon-bathed visuals, meticulous production design & clever camerawork, but it doesn't amount to a lot in the end. In short, Edgar Wright's latest is amongst his weakest.

From the first scene, my hopes for this film started to fade. It is abysmally written, knocked together by a grand total of two brain cells. The characters are cliche and uninteresting and without a single layer of depth, the setups predictable and revisited upon us from a millions other films (bedroom alarm clock going off... the bitchy classmates... overhearing someone talk about you in the bathroom... the plot twist..., etc etc ad nauseum), the acting for the most part unbelievable and often cringe. The one ray of light in the acting was Sam Claflin, who makes a tiny appearance but brings something of interest and intrigue. Why he's not become more mainstream over the years, I have no idea. Sure the cinematography is good, but this alone does not make a film. And we expect decent cinematography as standard from modern films given the leaps in digital technology. Nor does banging some old tunes over celluloid make it hip. This film is entirely style over substance, and unfortunately the style doesn't even come close to the style of the era it attempts to recreate.

I'm suspicious of the IMDb rating this film gets. As usual, many one timers popping a rating in. There are 14,000 ratings for this film. This film has made $8 million at the box-office to date. If we assume roughly one in a hundred people rate a film on IMDb and that the average price of a cinema ticket is $15 (probably an underestimate), then this film should have made $21 million. Even if you're generous and give the figures a 30% lag time and account for preview ratings etc, you should still be hitting $15 mil.

Me thinks many of these reviews are fake...

I went on an Edgar Wright binge during lockdown, half just to see them again and half with an eye on the fact that "Last Night in Soho" was due out when the lockdown lifted. Though I generally would say that I liked the film, unfortunately I felt the conclusion let it down.

Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) moves from Cornwall to London to become a fashion designer. Obsessed with 1960's culture, she struggles to make friends and leaves the halls of residence for a flat in a house owned by Ms Collins (Diana Rigg). On her first night, she dreams about Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) a singer who came to Soho in the 1960's and who fell in with Jack (Matt Smith). As the dreams mix with reality, Eloise comes to question her sanity, what happened to Sandie and who the silver haired gentleman (Terence Stamp) hanging around the city might be.

The stuff that I admired most about the film were related to the performances and to Edgar Wright's direction. There is some very clever work done during the dream/haunting sequences to relay that the characters of Eloise and Sandie are both living the same life and the Eloise is watching it from a distance. There's a dance scene, which is very cleverly choreographed so that both characters can dance with Jack without cutting away. Anya Taylor-Joy really can do anything and make it compelling but as a Giallo-esque femme fetale / victim she's at her most arresting. Smith is a convincing charming heavy though he doesn't feature in the film as much as the girls. Thomasin McKenzie carries an excellent Cornishy accent through the film, and keeps Eloise likable, even when she becomes overwhelmed.

But... I'm not convinced that the story matches up with the talent elsewhere. I don't think the film makes as much sense as it thinks it does, in its conclusion. (Sorry if that sounds vague, bit I'm trying to write without spoilers). Its twist is relatively easy to see coming, though some of the dialogue details from earlier in the film hit differently once you know. I also don't think it's particularly scary, and the "ghosts" in the film aren't an especially well-done effect.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the film but I can't help and think of it as a missed opportunity for something truly special.

I understand what Edgar Wright tried to do, but I could not help but feel that this story would have been more intersting if it were less horror focused and more of a straightforward mystery with flashbacks.

Last Night in Soho really had me hypnotized. I feel like that's a comment that will be said by a lot of people, but that's exactly the kind of effect this film has. Edgar Wright brings us a dreamy, groovy ghost story that heavily pays tribute to Suspiria, along with other film classics from the 60s and 70s. Being Britain's top film junkie, Edgar Wright can get a hold of a camera and make it seem like you're walking into a video store at full blast. His love of this specific genre of horror is just gushing here. His love of music is also as romantic as ever. Music plays just as important of a role here as it did in Baby Driver, even if the songs aren't full-on characters of their own. Mackenzie and Taylor-Joy carry this film fully on their shoulders, and by God, do they rock it. I've been incredibly impressed with Thomasin Mackenzie since Jojo Rabbit, and if this film doesn't rocket her career all the way to the top, nothing will. There's so much to love about this movie. It's a trace. No, it's a trip.