Last Night in Soho: Review
An original, big-budget film from a director with a singular style would be something of a minor miracle in any other genre, but a thriller like Last Night in Soho entered this October’s horror line-up with relatively little fanfare. It’s easy to criticize the current state of horror films, but there’s no denying that the genre has given a new wave of filmmakers a chance to put legitimately fresh ideas and images into wide-release theaters. So while Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho isn’t exactly breaking the mold, it feels refreshing to watch a new popcorn film that isn’t based on an existing IP.
All that being said, Soho is far from perfect. It serves as great escapism in spurts, but there’s an inconsistency that feels uncharacteristic for Wright, who made his bones directing expertly-crafted, fine-tuned comedies like Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz. With 2017’s action-heavy Baby Driver, Wright began to shift ever-so-slightly into more straightforward fare. Still, even Baby Driver could hide behind a sheen of irony, whereas Soho plays its thriller elements straight. Wright maintains some of the winking genre awareness of his past work, but this feels like a clear attempt to move into a new, more serious chapter of his career.
Soho focuses on Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie), a young woman from a small British town who is accepted to study fashion in London. Sensitive and sheltered compared to her competitive classmates, she finds life in the big city overwhelming. Her time in London is complicated when she begins seeing vivid visions of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a mysterious young woman living the fast life in 1960s London. Initially offering Ellie an escape from her mundane modern existence, these visions soon take a turn for the horrific.
It could be argued how "horrific" it really is. Though Wright is attempting to shift gears, he's still most comfortable crafting snazzy set pieces that evoke a sense of cool, especially when soundtracked by a perfect piece of pop music. For all the lethal twists in the film's second half, the finest sequence is the first flashback, which introduces us to the swinging 60s in dazzling fashion. It's a magical scene, bursting with energy and music and visual panache. Wright clearly loves the time period, and he knows how to convey what makes it so alluring. The rest of the film struggles to measure up.
Scenes that are meant to show the bad side of the 1960s aren't as engaging or authentic, almost as if Wright can't distance himself from his own affection for the era. The villains are broad caricatures and the supernatural elements are never as tangible or scary as they're clearly meant to be. It has elements of a psychological thriller, with audiences expected to question if these visions are a sign of Ellie going insane, but this angle never pays off.
With its "the past shouldn't be romanticized” theme, the film has more in common with Midnight in Paris than the giallo films that it has been compared to. Giallos were 1970s Italian proto-slashers that featured mysterious, black-gloved killers. Soho, on the other hand, mines most of its tension out of the complications to Ellie's social life that arise due to her visions of the past. It's telling that the most suspenseful scenes are devoid of any real bodily threat and mainly involve Ellie potentially embarrassing herself in front of her classmates. Despite its October release and spooky marketing, it's not clear if Soho was meant to terrify. It feels too clean to be truly scary, with Wright's visuals being almost too safe and carefully calculated to elicit dread. The gritty quality of the classic 1970s shockers that Wright is emulating is mostly absent, replaced instead with a high-def sterility.
It's maybe best to take Soho as a kind of dark fairy tale. On this level, it works. Thomasin McKenzie sells all of Ellie’s emotional beats, but the performances are universally great. It's especially fun to see Terence Stamp and the late Diana Rigg show up in meaty roles. It's a confident, playful movie that doesn't overstay its welcome. What's more, it has ambitions beyond starting another blockbuster franchise. These days, that feels like a big deal, even when the final product doesn’t always hit its marks.
