Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho is a nifty little change of pace for the director. He trades in his typical comedic approach for a highly stylized horror-thriller that has echoes of many of the old masters. There were moments here that reminded me of Argento, De Palma, Craven, Polanski, and even Kubrick, but they all feel like an organic aspect of the movie than a mere pastiche of inspirations.
A shy girl named Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) moves from her small English town to London to attend fashion school. Longing to get away from her annoying roommate, she strikes out on her own and rents an apartment. Soon, she begins dreaming of the beautiful tenant (Anya Taylor-Joy) who lived there in the ‘60s.
To go into any more detail would be a disservice to potential viewers. What makes the film so much fun is how Wright puts our heroine AND the audience squarely in Taylor-Joy’s shoes. The way he subtly turns the screws to his characters (and us) is masterfully done, and eventually, we feel like we are in the grips of a nightmare we can’t wake from.
Wright slathers on the style too, which helps make the flashback scenes crackle. The sequences where McKenzie follows Taylor-Joy down a rabbit hole of increasingly seedy predicaments are exhilarating and intoxicating. He also gives us a gnarly murder sequence that would make any of the aforementioned filmmakers envious. Wright’s use of nicely timed needle drops of ‘60s tunes also helps heighten the atmosphere.
McKenzie does a great job as the curious bystander who quickly gets thrown in the driver’s seat of terror. She does some of the best terrified acting I’ve seen in a long time. It’s Taylor-Joy though who steals the movie with her longing, hypnotic gazes at the camera. She’s so mysterious and alluring that you can’t blame McKenzie for chasing after her, even after she knows it’s all leading to a tragic end.
At a few minutes shy of two hours, Last Night in Soho is overlong to a fault. Wright’s overreliance on CGI specters furthers hinders things. I know there’s a “reason” why they look the way they do, but their appearances aren’t particularly effective. These quibbles are relatively minor in the long run and don’t detract too much from the overall mood though. For when Wright is cooking, the movie really sizzles. It is certainly a Night to remember.
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