Last Night in Soho
Edgar Wright's stylistic powerhouse "Last Night in Soho" suggests the good old days weren't so good after all.
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Edgar Wright is one our best young working filmmakers. I felt he took a minor step back with the one-two punch of “The World’s End” (a movie that’s admittedly better on repeat viewings and boasts a pretty brilliant Simon Pegg performance) and “Baby Driver” (it didn’t totally deliver on all the hype – also Kevin Spacey and Ansel Elgort in the same flick … ick). I’m happy to report Wright’s made a return to form with “Last Night in Soho” (now in theaters) – a film that’s inherently him (riffing on a beloved subgenre – this time it’s giallo) while simultaneously being unlike anything he’s ever directed previously.
Eloise AKA Ellie (a winning Thomasin McKenzie) is a burgeoning fashion designer living with her grandmother Peggy (Rita Tushingham of Tony Richardson’s “A Taste of Honey” – an inspiration for “LNiS”) in Cornwall, England after the suicide of her mother (Aimee Cassettari). Ellie’s a gal living out of time. She’s obsessed with pop music from the 1960s and all her designs hearken back to that era.
Looking to cut her own path in life, Ellie gains acceptance to and attends London College of Fashion, where she’s saddled with mononymous roommate Jocasta (a deliciously bitchy Synnove Karlsen). Ellie sticks out like a sore thumb amongst her snotty schoolmates and is often the butt of their cruel jokes and gibes. Her only glimmer of hope socially is John (Michael Ajao, he was one of the wee tagalongs as a lad in the Wright executive produced “Attack the Block”), a kindly classmate who’s taken a shine to Ellie.
Sick of Jocasta’s shit, Ellie finds an alternate living situation by renting a room in the townhouse of Ms. Collins (the late, great Diana Rigg). It’s here while asleep that Ellie’s magically transported back to London of the swingin’ ‘60s and the consciousness of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a singer looking for her big break. This break comes in the form Jack (Matt Smith, never better on the big screen nor handsomer than he is here), her prospective manager and boyfriend. But as is often the case, if something (or someone) is too good to be true it probably is. Jack is the foundation for Sandie’s undoing.
McKenzie is aces as the audience surrogate. Taylor-Joy doesn’t have as much to chew on, but is undoubtedly a star – she looks and sings great. I very much enjoyed the presence of Ajao, who’s just so damned likable here. I’m thankful Wright gave Rigg one last juicy role for which she could sink her teeth.
I’ll fully admit to enjoying “LNiS” more in its first half where it’s a fantastical coming of age story with a nostalgic bent as opposed to its giallo-leaning second half, but thoroughly enjoyed both halves. Wright simultaneously embraces and condemns nostalgia by showing the seedy underbelly of Ellie’s obsessions. “LNiS” is a technical masterclass paying homage to giallo maestro Dario Argento as well as Alfred Hitchcock and by extension Brian De Palma (the filmmaker I most often thought of while watching the picture). The shiny cinematography of Park Chan-wook lenser Chung-hoon Chung and slick editing of Paul Machliss, evocative score by Steven Price and sterling production design of Marcus Rowland (all three frequent Wright collaborators) send this shit to the stratosphere stylistically. Wright’s expert needle drops certainly don’t hurt matters either.
The script by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917”) is clever, but not in the ha ha way in which Wright often operates. It’s also #MeToo AF. If there’s a drawback it’s that I wish the screenplay further elucidated the fate and actions of Terence Stamp’s mysterious character so the picture’s conclusion weren’t so morally obfuscated.
“LNiS” shows Wright evolving as a filmmaker. It’d make a wonderful double bill with “Cruella” from earlier this year and should be requisite viewing for Harvey Weinstein.