Last Night In Soho Movie Review
Nathan Swank
October 29th, 2021
Paying homage to the classic psychological thriller, Edgar Wright’s LAST NIGHT IN SOHO plays on a dream-like quality concept, matching visually what it might be like to be in a slumber that you hope to never awake from into a living nightmare.
Eloise, played by Thomasin McKenzie (LEAVE NO TRACE, JOJO RABBIT, OLD) is heading off to a London school to study fashion design. A bit shy and reclusive, Eloise is haunted by images of her mother who killed herself when she was younger. When the mean girls in her dorm room are far more party-centric for her taste, Eloise begins renting a top floor room from an older lady, played by Diana Rigg (ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, GAME OF THRONES), in downtown Soho. She immediately begins to have vivid dreams of a life from the 1960’s. The dazzling beauty in the dream, played by Anya Taylor Joy (THE WITCH, EMMA, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT), does not look like Eloise except through reflection. This mysterious girl along with her initial song and dance life in 1960 London nightclubs seems completely enchanting, until a darkening change sets in where the desired life is nothing what it seems and begins to seep itself into Eloise’s reality.
Writer and director Edgar Wright blasted onto the screen with his hilarious parody genre movies like SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ. In 2017, he delivered one of my favorite films, BABY DRIVER. Wright’s unique voice is now toying with a callback to the classics while infusing genres in mystery, thriller, horror, and even slasher with LAST NIGHT IN SOHO. The visual touch is what really brings this film together. Utilizing some practical effects that involve a lot of mirroring, digitally blurring of images and faces, surreal background choices and movements, and transforming sets and costumes to 1960’s London, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is truly quite a spectacle. Wright is able to recreate and reinvent a similar mystique that Hitchcock’s VERTIGO was able to visually achieve so well.
Every look seems to have a purpose and casting appears to be a large part of that. Jack, played by Matt Smith, is a character within the dream who is even referred to as handsome when the man is objectively cast as classic horror-look from a time when Boris Karloff or even Christopher Lee dominated the evil-guy characterization. His sunken eyes, blonde hair, thin frame, and all-around cocky attitude reveals almost immediately this is not the hero our character expects him to be.
The male gaze is a prominent figure, which is done visually and thematically in the story telling. Even the woman’s gaze of Eloise gazing at Sandie and then seeing the entire scene of how the men are also ogling her is all purposefully unnerving. I appreciate the idea of peering through the looking glass as we see the victimized female gender unfairly treated by the privileged older white males. At the same time, that theme felt a bit heavy-handed and not fully realized. Edgar Wright and Kristy Wilson-Cairns (1917) wrote the screenplay, which has its fair share of problems. I’m not sure why John, played by Michael Ajao, is continuing to be so kind and helpful toward Eloise who continues to ignore him or even get him into trouble. But at least it’s the male character being underwritten, rather than the typical female character this go around.
Sadly, as much as the visual panache creates a strange suspense throughout the film, the final act falls into some horror movie tropes, nearly undoing many of the great things that came before it. Thankfully, a strong performance and particularly creative visual chase sequence up some stairs help keep the ending from sinking the film into a negative. Still, I was hoping for more after such a strong beginning that had me eager to see what was around each corner.
As two of our most talented working actresses today, Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy are perfectly cast. Terrence Stamp is minimally seen but definitely brings a strong presence. Finally, It is truly wonderful to see Diana Rigg once again, who finished filming before passing away over a year ago and delivers a commanding final performance
Set to release in spring of 2020, I’m happy we finally are treated to another Edgar Wright film, even if it doesn’t always live up to its promises. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is a visual pleasure and a musical delight (another Wright specialty) that values style a bit more than the substance.
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