Last Night in Soho (2021) review

Happy Halloween, everyone! Well, thank you for joining me for my 10th October reviewing horror movies, and first year on my new blog. I’m really happy with how this turned out, and I hope I brought more attention to some of the pre-eminent names in horror history, as well as some modern auteurs that Western audiences may be unfamiliar with.

So what’s next? Well, since this is a full blog now and not just a niche theme for the season, I’d like to do more than just horror movies for one month of the year. I’m not promising anything at this point, but I will look into the possibility of doing something else between now and next October. Perhaps a couple of Christmas movie reviews in December, and maybe other stuff outside of that. The only definite is my plan to publish remastered versions of my older reviews within the next few weeks or months. After that, it will just depend on how I’m feeling day by day.

Until then, enjoy my last review for October 2021; it’s for a movie that just came out, so if you haven’t seen it, let me give you a recommendation.

31. Last Night in Soho (2021)

Directed by: Edgar Wright

Produced by: Nira Park, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Edgar Wright

Screenplay by: Edgar Wright, Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao, Terrence Stamp, Diana Rigg

This is definitely the newest movie I’ve ever reviewed as a part of my horror marathon; in fact, it just came out in theaters on Friday. That’s neat; I get to pretend I’m an actual critic for a day. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that Edgar Wright has become one of the best directors of the 21st century. He’s helmed the hilarious “Cornetto trilogy” of satirical genre films—one of which I’ve reviewed before, “Shaun of the Dead”—the underperforming but equally entertaining “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” and his crime thriller masterpiece “Baby Driver.” Needless to say, I was excited to learn that he was finally delving into pure horror—if you don’t count his “Grindhouse” fake trailer “Don’t”—with “Last Night in Soho.” Keep in mind, I literally just got back from seeing this, so take it as more of a first impression than an in-depth analysis; in my opinion, although the narrative and themes get pretty muddled, its production design and performances make it a memorably trippy but still satisfying experience.

Named after the Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich song, the film stars Thomasin McKenzie as Eloise “Ellie” Turner, an aspiring fashion designer who moves to London after being accepted to a prestigious school. However, she’s overwhelmed by the environment, failing to fit in with her fellow students due to her timid behavior and eccentric style. So she moves out of her dorm building into an apartment in the Soho district owned by the elderly Ms. Collins (Diana Rigg), since it more suits her personal affinity for all sights and sounds of the Swinging Sixties. On her first night, Ellie dreams that she’s in 1966 living as an ambitious singer named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy); she falls in love with Jack (Matt Smith), a manager who gets her an audition at a nightclub. Entranced by Sandie’s glamour and confidence, Ellie models her fashion after her, and even dyes her hair blonde; but as time goes on, Ellie’s visions become much more disturbed, and she’s further haunted by the repercussions of Sandie’s increasingly fractured life, leading her to try and discover who she was and what happened to her.

As you might expect from a Wright film, the aesthetics in the past scenes are gorgeous; the color palate, costumes, music and cinematography create a giallo-esque London atmosphere that’s classy but still somewhat otherworldly. It can be inviting and friendly one minute, then cold and unforgiving the next, and we see how it parallels with Ellie’s efforts to navigate her way. The first person she meets is a cab driver who’s all too happy to point out the sights, but becomes creepy and perverse in a moment’s notice. Her roommate Jocasta (Synnøve Karlsen) is all smiles at first greeting, but condescending and cruel once out of earshot. As the movie goes on, the respective worlds start blending together, making for a hypnotically disorienting state of affairs; you really get a feel for Ellie’s sense of paranoia, and you’re not totally sure what’s real and what she’s imagining.

McKenzie, who previously turned heads for her roles in “Leave No Trace” and “Jojo Rabbit,” definitely sells Ellie’s anxiety; her speaking mannerisms are slightly odd, but she’s believable as someone who sort of finds herself by living vicariously through someone else. Anya Taylor-Joy, fast becoming a modern “scream queen,” has striking presence as Sandie, particularly in her eyes as she shows up bold and brash but soon becomes detached and bitter. I wish their connection was better defined, but the overall obsession regarding this mystery is an interesting dynamic; it’s like when someone watches a real-life crime documentary and becomes so embroiled that they just have to know every single solitary detail. Yeah, all of you who spend your days off marathoning the ID channel, you know what I’m talking about.

In what feels like a very deliberate move, most of the supporting cast is made up of stars from the 1960s. Terence Stamp brings his usual oily, well-mannered charisma as a character credited as The Silver Haired Gentleman, who Ellie believes knew Sandie, while Diana Rigg and Margaret Nolan, who respectively play Ms. Collins and the barmaid at the pub Ellie works at, were Bond girls during the decade. They’re both engaging characters you can tell have seen a lot of crazy shit in their days; sadly, both Rigg and Nolan passed away from cancer last year. Newcomer Michael Ajao, meanwhile, is just so gosh-darn likeable as John, Ellie’s love interest and really one of the only people she places her trust in; their scenes are charming, while Matt Smith just reeks of slick, well-dressed seediness as Jack.

Now, full disclosure; when I went into this movie, I was expecting a scary version of “Midnight in Paris,” with Ellie literally time traveling to the ‘60s, and a more personal arc as a result of the worlds crossing paths. Instead, it becomes this abstract story about abuse and exploitation, with Ellie being the observer rather than the subject. That’s not a bad thing, but there’s such a motif about her refusing to ask for outside help, and it never really pays off like I wanted it to; there are times when I wanted the visuals to be more intimate and less bombastic. However, the presentation is still stellar, even if the overall meaning is kind of meandering and weirdly presented. While I like one of the climactic decisions, where the movie deliberately avoids a standard supernatural cliché in light of the circumstances, I think it ends on a really weird note; there’s so much of an established dark fantasy element throughout, this just feels too clean and happy.

But in the end, I’m definitely glad I saw “Last Night in Soho,” despite its shaky storyline. I was unsure for a while what I was going to review as the last movie; but I knew I wanted it to be something in theaters, and “Halloween Kills” was pretty disappointing, so I set my sights on this one. As of this moment, it’s being outpaced at the box office by Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” the new Bond movie “No Time to Die,” and “My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission,” although still neck-and-neck with “Antlers” as the top-grossing new horror film of the weekend. I can’t say if this movie is going to have a lasting impact, or if it’s just going to settle with a niche arthouse audience. I don’t think it ranks alongside Wright’s best films; it’s a little too long and unfocused for that. Thankfully, there’s enough eye candy and intrigue to make it a fascinating one to check out; just be patient with it, I promise it’s a marvy one…damn, the ‘60s are rubbing off on me.

My rating: 8.5/10