Edgar Wright is such a good film-maker that it sometimes makes me sad that he doesn't get more recognition. Oh, he has plenty of fans, and most people love at least one of "the Cornetto trilogy" movies, but he has noticeably grown over the past decade or so into someone who can do more than cram a film full of jokes and references. Not that there is anything wrong with his films that are crammed full of jokes and references (indeed, both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz will remain very near the top of any list I make of my favourite films for a long time to come). Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was a move away from what he had done before, although it was equally overstuffed with details and gags in every scenes. Baby Driver was a fantastic surprise, a melding of visuals with soundtrack choices that also made time for some superb car stunt work. And you should all really check out his wonderful documentary on Sparks. But Last Night In Soho . . . well, it may just be in contention for his best work yet.
Thomasin McKenzie plays Eloise, a country girl who moves to London for the chance to study fashion design. Having been in love with the London that so many people picture from the "swinging '60s", Eloise soon discovers that the modern city is a different entity from what it once was. Thankfully, she also discovers a nocturnal window into the London of the past, a world in which she connects to the confident and lovely Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a wannabe singer who seems absolutely certain that she will one day be a star. As things start to take a dark turn for Sandie, Eloise finds her nerves becoming increasingly frayed. Considering that Eloise still occasionally has visions of her deceased mother, who committed suicide when she was a little girl, having her nerves frayed is not good for her, or for those around her.
Co-written by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, Last Night In Soho is, in a lot of ways, a case of style over substance, but a) it's hard to complain when the style is so gorgeous, and b) the substance that IS here is well worth your time. People have tried to say this is Wright emulating a giallo film, but his touchstones here seem to be the likes of Vertigo, The Tenant, the films of Hammer and Pete Walker (to name a few main influences), and a pinch of Lucio Fulci. And it's worth noting that the horror develops throughout the runtime. This isn't a film to watch for jump scares and gory deaths, it's one to watch and enjoy for ratcheting tension and insanity.
Visually stunning, mirrors are used often, and used brilliantly, an era of London is recreated here that draws viewers in as easily as it draws in Eloise. It's all bright lights, groovy fashions, cool people, and ear-tickling music. The editing is flawless, complementing the two central performances as the leads reflect one another, and grow more in sync, and the whole film is an immersive, at times dizzying, experience.
Wright and co. arguably saved themselves a lot of trouble by casting so cannily though. I cannot say enough good things about McKenzie and Taylor-Joy, the former all awkward shyness and wide-eyed innocence while the latter acts as a white rabbit leading everyone to a wonderland that soon starts to crack and fall apart. Matt Smith is also very good, playing a man named Jack who soon reveals his true colours while acting as if he can do great things for Sandie. Then you have Diana Rigg, excelling in a final film role, a landlady named Ms Collins, that uses her brilliantly and allows her to do much more than just play someone available to reminisce about "the good old days". Michael Ajao, playing a nice young lad named John, and Synnove Karlsen, playing a not-so-nice fellow student named Jocasta, are both good, but the added pleasure comes from the supporting turns from Terence Stamp, still able to exude cool, menace, and a general swagger that reminds you of everything he has done before, and Rita Tushingham, an actress strongly associated with '60s British cinema (and who starred in a strangely similar cinematic fairytale-gone-awry entitled Straight On Till Morning). It's also good to see Pauline McLynn, who will forever be Mrs. Doyle to me, in any film role, however small, and she just adds to the quality of the performances on display here with her turn as a pub landlady named Carol.
So many people will take so many different things from this, and I have seen complaints about the writing and the third act developments, but all I can do is give it the highest recommendation possible. It feels, to me, like a long way of exploring that classic "you can never go home again" idea, albeit for a character attached to somewhere that was never her home in the first place. It also seems to underline a point so many people seem to miss nowadays, about accepting a time/place/source of art while being able to acknowledge that there were massive problems. You can wear rose-tinted glasses if you want to, but it's impossible to constantly ignore the problematic elements, to put it mildly, that have accompanied so many main chapters in our history, but being aware of them doesn't mean we have to then throw things we love into a social dustbin.
The more I watch this, the more I love it. That happens with most Edgar Wright movies I watch, to be fair, but this one has something that gives it a slight edge over a lot of his other work. It has a bit more going on below the surface, despite that perhaps being harder to notice with the overdose of style throughout. I hope others end up enjoying it almost as much as I did.
10/10
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