Edgar Wright is a director who quickly made a name for himself as someone with a rich knowledge of film, an eye for form, and an irreverent style grounded in a mission to make the mundane cinematic and exciting. The Cornetto Trilogy established him as a major voice in the modern film landscape and his forays into Hollywood, though somewhat inconsistent, have solidified his place as a filmmaker with a unique voice. The promise of Last Night in Soho is exciting; Edgar Wright is not only back in his element but also accompanied by a talented cast in a genre he had only previously explored the outskirts of.
Last Night in Soho to an extent fulfills that promise; Edgar Wright’s eye is as confident and inventive as ever, the cast are all doing great work, and ultimately the film is a slick homage to the genre and to the city it takes place in. At the same time, the places where the film does succeed only serve to highlight the points where it falters. This is likely Wright’s most ambitious narrative with some impressive set pieces, but the relatable human centre that had made his previous works so popular is regularly put on the back burner for his bigger ideas. That ambition unfortunately often comes at the cost of the film having an emotional core to build those big ideas around.
The film follows Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie), a nostalgic young woman who lives with her grandma and is haunted by the image of her mother (Rita Tushingham), who we learn she lost at a young age. Shortly after the film opens, Eloise moves to London to study fashion design, only to realise that she is perhaps not made for the university experience. After the film’s most unrealistic sequence: getting out of a student housing contract in one night, Eloise finds herself living with the friendly if somewhat intimidating Mrs. Collins, played by the late Diana Rigg. Upon settling into her new home, Eloise is tormented by dreams of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) a woman who lived in the same room in the late 60s and dreamed of being a singer, leading her into the employ of the enigmatic Jack (Matt Smith). Eloise is continuously haunted by this woman who represents everything she thought she wanted to be, and as the film collapses around her, these two lives become inextricably entwined.
Soho is at its best when it’s about Eloise and her incessantly interrupted attempts to come of age, albeit in the wrong generation. The push and pull between wanting to belong as you are and wanting to be someone else completely is a relatable feeling intensified by this supernatural second life and it’s where stars Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy do their most subtly powerful work. The tension between the two is palpable even if we’re not sure exactly how they’re sharing this space. It is understandable that this could not satisfyingly last forever, but it is where Wright’s vision for the story feels most confident. This also leads to the most effective moments of horror.
Once it becomes clear what the film is actually about, however, it ironically becomes less focused. Wright and co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns pull the rug out from under us and this romantic memory of London, sending the film in a drastically different direction and intentionally trying to repudiate the uncritical nostalgia of its first act. The goal of this part of the film is admirable and not without real moments of glory, but the effort to sharpen the film’s ideas to a point unfortunately shaves off the human nuance of its early sequences. While Thomasin McKenzie remains formidable, the character of Eloise comes to feel much more passive in a way that is disappointing. Where Wright’s earlier films excelled in following ordinary characters through extraordinary situations, Eloise comes to feel more like a vessel for the script’s bigger ideas as things only happen to her. While understandable for a film so reverential of the horror genre, it feels like a missed opportunity for a filmmaker as self aware as Edgar Wright.
Last Night in Soho is no doubt destined to be a major crowd pleaser, its energetic direction, tight and occasionally very funny script and initially exciting concept reflect the best of what audiences have come to expect from Edgar Wright. The film’s approach to its setting, providing London with a level of aspiration and a richness typically reserved for films about New York will be especially rewarding for anyone familiar with the city. Even where it stumbles, it feels hard to fault the film’s ambition. Wright is clearly trying to balance a deep love for the city with the reality of its history and while not always successful, the result at least feels well intentioned. There is a lot here to like and at the very least even more to come away talking about.
