REVIEW #105 Last Night in Soho (2021)

Last Night in Soho is a psychological horror directed by Edgar Wright and follows an aspiring fashion designer as she moves to London to follow her dreams. Her dreams of the 1960’s introduces her to a wannabe singer called Sandy but she soon realises that those visions are influencing her reality as they get darker and darker. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

Thomasin McKenzie plays Eloise the main protagonist in the film. Overall I think she gives a pretty solid performance and does well to portray the decline of her character. One criticism I would have is perhaps her delivery of dialogue, it sometimes come across as very childlike, almost like a toddler speaking at times and that was quite annoying. I could actually say the same for one of her co-stars too, Michael Ajao who played John. He also had similar delivery, which would suggest that perhaps it was intentional but I really didn’t like that, they are uni students and shouldn’t be speaking like toddlers! For me the best bits of acting certainly come during the 60’s vision sequences! Anya Taylor-Joy once again steals the show and she is definitely one of my favourite actors at the moment, her performance was so complete that it made you not want the scenes to transition back into real time. Matt Smith also delivered a great performance as the cockney lad Jack who turns out to be a real vindictive character but he portrayed the two contrasts of the character really well. Those two really bounced off of each other and showcased really good chemistry, even when the relationship between their two characters turned toxic you could see how well they performed together. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I thought Last Night in Soho had a really good storyline and I think it lived up to the genre as a psychological horror pretty well. The reason I say that is because as I watched it I was constantly questioning why Eloise was having these visions and those theories were changing all the time. At first I believed it was her losing her mind as the mental health issues were hinted at right at the beginning of the film but it didn’t turn out to be that at all. Granted, Edgar Wright didn’t actually give a definitive answer as to why those visions occurred but you could make a pretty educated guess at the end. As I mentioned in the first part of the review the best part of the film was those 60’s flashbacks, the scenes were a lot more exciting, they were put together more nicely and in general just had a lot more substance then the normal reality scenes. This obviously was to the detriment of the other half of the film because those modern day scenes did seem a little slow and lacklustre and when they did finally start to merge together I think it got a little corny. This is  where it began to rely just on making the audience jump, which is what I hate about the horror genre. However I did like the concept and the twist at the end did take me by surprise, so for the most part it was really enjoyable.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

This was one of my favourite elements of the film, the lighting and colour effects especially, it really brought the scenes to life and made them really good to watch. Again I think the main bulk of the cinematography was utilised in the vision sequences which is why those scenes were a lot more enjoyable but we did see hints of it in the day to day scenes as the visions started to merge with reality. The soundtrack for the film was fantastic, the tracks matched perfectly to the film creating a nice blend of 60’s nostalgia and a freaky horror vibe to some of the darker scenes. I have also read that the dance scene where Matt Smith dances with Anya Taylor-Joy and she swaps out with Thomasin McKenzie just as she exits the frame, was filmed in one shot where the actresses were quickly swapping with every movement. That is some very impressive camera work and credit to the actors too because it looked really good! So overall I think Edgar Wright and Chung-Hoon Chung the cinematographer done a really good job with this film and created a beautifully visual film with a great soundtrack. 

OVERALL (8.2/10)

I did really enjoy Last Night in Soho, is it a perfect film? No, far from it but it’s the type of horror I enjoy because it had me constantly guessing throughout the whole film, making me engage my brain which got me so invested in the story. Apart from the childlike delivery of dialogue from a couple of the actors, the acting in general was good, especially Anya Taylor-Joy and Matt Smith who were brilliant. The storyline as I mentioned was very engaging and I liked the concept, the focus on the 60’s visions sequences meant that those scenes were fantastic but also made the modern day scenes fall short of the mark a little. In terms of cinematography, the film was brilliant and I think the highlight was definitely the lighting and the colour pallet of a lot of scenes. I would definitely recommend going to see it in the cinema if you can, I’m usually not a fan of horror films in the slightest but Edgar Wrights latest edition to his filmography is really enjoyable. 

Thanks for reading

Callan