Last Night in Soho (2021)
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Dianne Rigg, Terence Stamp
Primary genre: Psychological
Secondary genre: Horror
“Last Night in Soho” is Edgar Wright’s answer to Tarantino’s 60’s love letter “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019). While the latter focuses much on the recreation of that era with an admirable enthusiasm and a revisionist take with a clear set of rules, Wright’s attempt is tonally, a different beast. Leaning towards the mystery and psychological horror genres, this is Wright at his most serious. Unfortunately serious is not the equivalent of good and “Soho” is a clear example that stepping out of your conform zone maybe is a bad idea.
Wright who co-wrote the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917“ (2019)), attempts to deal with several issues that lay deep within the modern British culture (i.e., sexism, drinking, mental illness, bullying), yet “Soho” does not know what it wants to be; an aspiring tale of female mistreatment, a case study of mental illness, a murder mystery? What starts with interesting arcs and locations, quickly devolves to a mess with repetitive “horror” sequences that do not fright an ant the moment the audience understand the whys and hows.
“Soho” cannot follow its own logic however, rendering its characters and their decisions stupid. Ellie experiences visions from the past (although we are told she sees dead people, not visions) treating them though as moments of now. And this is where “Soho” falls apart with its half-baked ideas. The film shows that these experiences can cross over to the real world (e.g., a hickey) until of course they cannot, in a baffling creative choice that contradicts with Ellie’s set of abilities. And that is the beginning of the problems that lay ahead.
A way too obvious villain (only an arrow is missing) and a final reveal that flirts with Shyamalism - which can be predicted if you have seen one or two horror movies before hand - make the entire film … pointless. Wright especially aims for a climax excess that is laughable on several fronts generating a myriad of questions and plotholes. Witnessing Ellie screaming and running again and again in a variety of settings, (e.g., the pub, the library, the club) populates the plot with filler as if Wright and Wilson-Cairns did not know how to tell (or end for that matter) the story.
Even the characters suffer from lack of growth or plot importance with stereotypical cases making out the most of humiliating Ellie (e.g., her antagonistic roomate in particular is a textbook cliché from the American films of the 90’s cranked up to 11). Most problematically though, the proceedings are dominated by a rather distasteful choice that showcases (almost) every male character in a negative light (the male cop makes fun of Ellie while his female counterpart will believe her with no proof). Wright issues a broad characterization in modern day London as a place for men who are obnoxious, sexist or both. Considering the film deals with the case of Sandy back in the 60s you would assume that these parallels would not be as strong today, expecting some sort of finesse when dealing with such a delicate (and unfortunate serious) issue (like in the remake of “The Invisible Man” (2020)). Even when the script introduces Michael Ajao as a counterbalance to all of this, he feels more like a gimmick that sticks with Ellie through the bad and the worst when every logical person would have fled the scene on a jumbo jet.
Nevertheless, there are things to admire here, typically for a Wright film. The visions are an excuse for British director to stylistically recreate the 60’s London with top notch production design (although he does not make the most of the real locations), costumes and cinematography (by Chung Chung-Hoon) while the soundtrack and performances are complementing the (if any) story nicely even if Thomasin McKenzie might tire the most patient viewer with her constant screaming (at nothing).
“Last Night in Soho” is Wright’s first film that sinks like Titanic. It does not work at an emotional and story wise level. Despite the presence of technical finesse, the script is messy, populated by stock characters and stupid decisions with a final reveal that renders the whole story pointless.
A spectacular misfire of a horror film
+Production design
+Solid cinematography
+Cool shots
+Groovy soundtrack
+Solid performances
-Stock characters
-Twists and turns are pointless
-Messy plot
-Stupid decisions
-No stakes