"Last Night in Soho" a sensational genre-hopper with panache and substance

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Known for hopping genres even in the same movie, filmmaker Edgar Wright (2021’s “The Sparks Brothers”) challenges himself with his latest, “Last Night in Soho.” This not only marks Wright’s first true horror film, clearly inspired by the lavishly colored, blood-spattered gialli of the ‘70s and maybe even a couple of ‘90s erotic thrillers, but the first story that puts his leading ladies directly at the center. A coming-of-age travelogue that seamlessly smashes together time travel, a lurid murder mystery, a spooky ghost story, and a psychological thriller, “Last Night in Soho” rides a cinema lover’s high with panache and substance. Watching it is like getting pulled into an alluring dream that eventually morphs into a dangerous, kaleidoscopic nightmare. 

The adorable yet sneakily self-possessed Thomasin McKenzie plays Eloise “Ellie” Turner, a young woman with dreams of being a big-time fashion designer. Both she and her grandmother (Rita Tushingham) are elated when Ellie gets accepted to the London College of Fashion, but that means leaving the English countryside and living on her own in the Swinging City. An old soul with an affinity for a bygone era and listening to old ‘60s records, Ellie realizes she has little in common with her fellow fashion dorm mates and rents out a room from landlady Ms. Collins (the late Diana Rigg). At night when Ellie falls asleep in bed, she transports back in time, watching or sometimes seeing herself as Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a glamorous, confident, vesper-drinking would-be lounge singer. Knowing she’s talented enough to be “the next Cilla Black,” Sandie works her magic on nightclub manager Jack (an effectively gross Matt Smith). At first, Ellie can’t get enough of seeing Sandie and her love affair taking off, until she realizes the doll-like object of her dreams would be forced to be used by many lecherous men in her climb to the top. Sandie’s past eventually bleeds into Ellie’s present when a strange older gentleman (Terence Stamp) may or may not be following her. 

Writer-director Edgar Wright and co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns (2019’s “1917”) don’t have some grandstanding soapbox to stand on or a thesis to state, just a story of emotional and moral complexity to tell imaginatively through the prism of genre pulp with something still on its mind. Decidedly another timely representation of the “Me Too” movement figuring into a genre film, “Last Night in Soho” is actually pretty timeless. As a cautionary ode to nostalgia, the film weaves between the past and the present, two eras where ambitious women with big dreams can equally be chewed up and spit out. Established in the first scene, Ellie seems to have some sort of supernatural connection with her late mum, who harmlessly haunts her daughter in mirrors. Instead of using the character’s grief as a ghoulish gimmick—or trying to come up with a desperately asinine explanation of how this ingenue can time-travel—the film sees Ellie receiving an actual shot at a promising career that her mother did not get to have due to her battle with mental health. 

A captivating talent belying her age, Thomasin McKenzie not only has a delicate, approachable presence but a great horror-movie face as Ellie, a mousy but scrappy and thoroughly talented heroine who deserves the world, as long as it’s not cruel back to her. Like Ellie upon seeing Sandie, we also want to protect Sandie from the human ugliness within London. The ethereal, strikingly saucer-eyed Anya Taylor-Joy is the dazzling embodiment of ‘60s nostalgia (her breathy a capella rendition of “Downtown” would make her a professional lounge singer instantly), but she even finds sympathy in this tragic figure before the cracks show. Diana Rigg, in her final film performance, is endearingly crotchety and quite memorable as Ms. Collins, and even as an underdeveloped counterpoint to the rest of the male persuasion in this film’s London, Michael Ajao lends a nice-guy charm as John, a classmate from North London who’s sweet on Ellie.

Aurally and visually, “Last Night in Soho” is perfection, but besides being high in operatic style and technical precision, it’s also narratively enthralling and emotionally sound. Part and parcel of the film’s fabric, the era-specific soundtrack is divine from its selection and placement, including The Graham Bond Organisation’s “Wade in the Water,” The Kinks’ “Starstruck,” Peter and Gordon’s “A World Without Love,” and Sandie Shaw’s “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me.” Wright, cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, and editor Paul Machliss pull off a number of visual tricks between reflections in mirrors down staircases and an impeccably edited dance where the woman being twirled by Jack keeps switching between Sandie and Ellie. The finale, which introduces a whopper of a reveal, also features one of the most expressionistic and mesmerizing confrontations on a staircase. Period production design and costumes are aces, and points are even deserved for the detail of another era, the late-1990s, when four of Ellie’s peers are dressed up as the coven of high school witches from “The Craft” at a Halloween party.

Sometimes, a movie, particularly in the thriller genre, can fall apart as the twists begin piling up. “Last Night in Soho” is too sensational to make that mistake. Just when one thinks Edgar Wright has gone for a rather obvious resolution—you can call it based on the perfect casting of a character’s younger and older self—and emptied his bag of tricks, the film finds vindication with more up its sleeve that feels more meaningful than just one cheap eleventh-hour trick. It’s a case of misdirection that upon closer consideration doesn’t perfectly click, based on what was shown prior, but in terms of thematic cohesion, Wright understands that rose-colored nostalgia can sometimes muddy the dark truth. Beguiling as it is dark and forbidding, and original without being shy about its influences from the film noirs of yore, “Last Night in Soho” is one of the most exciting genre pictures of 2021.

Grade: A -

Focus Features is releasing “Last Night in Soho” (117 min.) in theaters on October 29, 2021.