Last Night In Soho

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Last Night In Soho follows Eloise Turner, a young fashion student who is ecstatic to be moving from her countryside town into the bustle of London. However, when Eloise becomes plagued by visions of a young woman's murder in 60s Soho she must do everything in her power to come to the bottom of the mystery. This film really does something right from the very beginning by introducing us to a protagonist like Eloise, she is a young woman brimming with energy and ambition. Her dreams for the future and excitement for the big city life are very romantic and you can't help but empathise with her immediately. Yet that cold underpinning of male harassment and bullying she is subjected to is extremely important, even more so the way she responds to it with such firm defiance. Watching Eloise's romanticism become quashed by the grim reality of living alone in a large new space is quite humbling but it sets us up well for the best part of the film. Once Eloise begins experiencing visions of Sandie and the intoxicating world of 1960s Soho a really unique duality is portrayed. As our protagonist becomes further and further enthralled in these visions we can't help but join her, which makes the tilt in which they start to become unsettling all the more tense. I really enjoyed how the feature toyed with showing the link between Eloise and Sandie, merging their lives and then shattering them apart at precise and key intervals. The cinematography throughout is nothing short of stunning, I was in awe of how grandiose every shot looks. There is an elegance about how this film is presented and also seamlessly maps out those key scenes in which we see Eloise and Sandie contrasted. The score for the film is very unsettling and peak thriller where it needs to be; but I think the soundtrack might just be one of the best I've heard in an Edgar Wright film yet.

 

Michael Ajao, who played John, is a very softly spoken charismatic individual; Ajao really plays a calm figure in a storm here and I enjoy seeing how he anchors and supports McKenzie's character. Synnove Karlsen, who played Jocasta, is in her element as the toxic dorm room bully; Karlsen plays well to those subtle shades of jealousy and knows how to really land a strong barbed piece of dialogue. Terence Stamp, who played Lindsay, is a very unnerving figure throughout this film who comes across as a bit of a sleaze; Stamp portrays a man you almost want to see as an antagonist because he really preys on our female lead in an uncomfortable way to great effect. Diana Rigg, who played Ms. Collins, is a very curt figure who is strict in the way she manages her affairs; seeing Rigg lean into the antagonist persona and embrace the resentment at having her life snatched from her by villainous men was great work with a poor script choice. Anya Taylor-Joy, who played Sandie, is an extremely confident powerhouse who knows how to command a room when we meet her; it is one of Taylor-Joy's greatest triumphs showing how affected and damaged her role is by the manipulations she is put through. Matt Smith, who played Jack, is like a coiled serpent waiting to strike when we meet him; SMith brings a level of charisma to his character but there is something hiding behind his eyes that warns us he is dangerous and only grows the further the film progresses. Sam Claflin, who plays Young Lindsay, is almost a mirror to Stamp's performance; while this role has a sense of duty and responsibility you can't but be reviled by him. 

However, the best performance came from Thomasin McKenzie, who played Eloise. McKenzie is a performer who is really on the rise right now and has had a diverse range of roles from working under Taika Waititi to M. Night Shyamalan. But out of everything I've seen from her so far there is no doubt in my mind that this is McKenzie's best work yet, made all the more deserving by the fact that she is the one leading the feature. Eloise is quite a bright, fun character when first we meet her; she literally dances into frame and enchants the audience with her dreams and aspirations for the future. I liked seeing how McKenzie's played the quiet tragedy that settles over her role at the loss of her Mum from a young age. I also think seeing how strongly and responsible Eloise reacts to male harassment is extremely important to the message of this film and how she interacts with the events moving forward. Watching McKenzie shrink at the face of her onscreen bullies is incredibly important, we see her pushed into a very low and vulnerable place. The wonder and joy she gains from her initial visions of 60s Soho is intoxicating and powerful. Every moment of terror as the feature turns to the darker side of this thriller is perfectly captured by McKenzie too. I expect only more and more from this actress as her star continues to rise.

This was shaping up to be my favourite Edgar Wright film for a significant amount of the feature, and then the final act happened. To be transparent this wasn't a perfect film for the first two acts by any means. The film really struggles to blend the supernatural thriller elements with the psychological thriller elements it is attempting to show. The supernatural aspects of this feature very rarely make sense even if they are well used in some moments of the film. We never really understand why Eloise can see her dead Mum and Sandie, the film just tells us it is so and the film carries on. It's a funny thing where a concept grows legs and runs with itself without really establishing any ground rules for why it works. In the final act the film really fumbles a lot of the narrative by making Sandie an antagonist and even having a scene in which we're meant to see the male abusers in a more sympathetic light. In a feature focused heavily on male harassment, manipulation and abuse it was a very reckless decision and undercut a lot of the key moral messages up until this point. I felt like Last Night In Soho is a phenomenal film to watch but it really needed to weigh up what was important to leave the audience with. The special effects used to make the faceless male ghosts was pretty lousy as well, I think a more creative option could definitely have been utilised.

 

Rita Tushingham, who played Peggy, gives a very generic maternal performance; the over affectionate doting grandmother is a very two-dimensional role that Tushingham fails to lend depth to.

An absolutely wonderful cast, delightful visual style and superb soundtrack that is only really let down by a poorly executed final act. I would give Last Night In Soho a 7.5/10.