Last Night in Soho is the new film by Edgar Wright and he co-wrote this with 1917 co-writer Krysty-Wilson Cairns and this one concerns Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) who dreams of being a fashion designer so she moves to London to fufill her dream but one night when she goes to sleep she finds herself in 1965 London which is also a time period she loves and there she sees a wannabe singer named Sandee (Anya-Taylor Joy) and things begin to spiral out of control from there.
Edgar Wright is probably my favourite filmmaker working today but that love mainly extends to the Cornetto series of films (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and the Worlds End) as the movies he’s made without Simon Pegg as his co-writer and point man (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and Baby Driver) were not ones I cared about even though they are very well made and going into Soho I had that fear front of mind even though I was very keen for the film.
Happily I really really enjoyed this movie a lot, it’s the first movie I’ve seen this year that I have immediately wanted to see again knowing how it all plays out and firstly Wright and Cairns have crafted a very good script that makes this movie in a lot of ways feel like a great companion piece to the Cornetto trilogy combining the serious horror elements of Shaun with the mystery thread of Hot Fuzz and the dangers of looking back nostalgically on the past from the Worlds End and the Worlds End in particular is the closest comparison I would make to this movie.
And that comparison is that you have a lead character that looks back nostalgically at an earlier period of time be it in the past or in their own life only for the dangers of such thinking to rear their ugly heads and both movies also showed that Edgar Wright was capable of delivering something more meaningful and mature as opposed to fun and frothy romps he normally delivers albeit very well for the most part.
Also Wright’s camerawork and the films sound design do a terrific job of getting you into Eloise’s head and her headspace and it helps you to understand her as a character and how she interacts with the world around her and McKenzie is so so good here, I cannot praise her enough she effortlessly anchors this movie and all the crazy curveballs the movie throws her way and when I heard her accent in the trailer I got very nervous but I shouldn’t have been worried at all and between this, Old and Jojo Rabbit she just seems to get better and better with each film I’ve seen her in.
As for the rest of the performances they are also very good as well, Terence Stamp has a small role but I loved seeing him here even if I kept saying to myself “Kneel Before Zod” every time he was on screen, Matt Smith from Doctor Who is also good in his small role with Anya-Taylor Joy is terrific once again and adds being a good singer to her impressive talent list while the late great Diana Rigg in her final film role is really good here as well and it makes for a fitting farewell for a great Dame of stage and screen.
And so that was Last Night in Soho and I really really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to watch it again, 4 and a half out of 5.
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