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Last Night in Soho
The creative force behind Shaun of the Dead scores with an unrelenting cinematic nightmare called Last Night in Soho that effectively blends mystery and violence for about two thirds of the running time, when a lot of the questions posed are answered all at once, leading to a somewhat convenient ending, but we want to see how it plays out anyway.
The 2021 film is about a young woman named Ellie who moves to London to attend a fashion design school. When she finds herself unhappy at the dorm, Ellie decides to move into a boarding house and one night goes to bed and finds herself transported back in time to 1960's London, a time period that has always fascinated Ellie. She instantly encounters a glamorous nightclub singer and prostitute named Sandie and a cosmic connection to Sandie is implied as Ellie becomes Sandie's reflection. As it might initially appear, a story hinged on the supernatural appears to be something darker yet simpler.
Director and screenwriter Edgar Knight has put a lot of detail and imagination into the mounting of this gothic nightmare that starts off with a quiet simplicity that easily disguises the cinematic explosion coming. The slightly overdetailed exposition which finds outsider Ellie dealing with a kind of Mean Girls/Carrie situation, finding her an outsider at fashion school and we're actually happy that she has possibly time traveled and just as we've accept this premise, we are brought back to the present to show that this story is not the complete fantasy we initially think it is.
Wright does a splendid job of reproducing all aspects of 1960's London, which is the primary canvas for this story. I love the first shot of 1960's London which finds Ellie stepping out of what appears to be a giant theater marquee advertising the James Bond film Thunderball. Wright also utilizes 1960's music as an important tool in establishing mood and advancing story with original recordings and covers of 60's classics like Petula Clark's "Downtown" and Dionne Warwick's "Anyone who had a Heart."
The answers all come flooding out at the beginning of the final third, right before this reviewer figured out what was going on. Wright established an interesting cast to realize his nightmare. Thomasin McKenzie brings a real Jennifer Jason Leigh quality to Ellie and Anya Taylor-Joy, Golden Globe winner for The Queen's Gambit is hauntingly ethereal as Sandie. And to give it authentic 60's cinematic flavor, 60's actors Terrence Stamp and the long absent from the screen Rita Tushingham appear in supporting roles, as does, in her final feature film appearance, Dame Diana Rigg, nearly unrecognizable in a dazzling performance as Mrs. Collins. It takes a minute to get going and wraps up a little too quickly, but this reviewer was riveted to the screen.
The creative force behind Shaun of the Dead scores with an unrelenting cinematic nightmare called Last Night in Soho that effectively blends mystery and violence for about two thirds of the running time, when a lot of the questions posed are answered all at once, leading to a somewhat convenient ending, but we want to see how it plays out anyway.
The 2021 film is about a young woman named Ellie who moves to London to attend a fashion design school. When she finds herself unhappy at the dorm, Ellie decides to move into a boarding house and one night goes to bed and finds herself transported back in time to 1960's London, a time period that has always fascinated Ellie. She instantly encounters a glamorous nightclub singer and prostitute named Sandie and a cosmic connection to Sandie is implied as Ellie becomes Sandie's reflection. As it might initially appear, a story hinged on the supernatural appears to be something darker yet simpler.
Director and screenwriter Edgar Knight has put a lot of detail and imagination into the mounting of this gothic nightmare that starts off with a quiet simplicity that easily disguises the cinematic explosion coming. The slightly overdetailed exposition which finds outsider Ellie dealing with a kind of Mean Girls/Carrie situation, finding her an outsider at fashion school and we're actually happy that she has possibly time traveled and just as we've accept this premise, we are brought back to the present to show that this story is not the complete fantasy we initially think it is.
Wright does a splendid job of reproducing all aspects of 1960's London, which is the primary canvas for this story. I love the first shot of 1960's London which finds Ellie stepping out of what appears to be a giant theater marquee advertising the James Bond film Thunderball. Wright also utilizes 1960's music as an important tool in establishing mood and advancing story with original recordings and covers of 60's classics like Petula Clark's "Downtown" and Dionne Warwick's "Anyone who had a Heart."
The answers all come flooding out at the beginning of the final third, right before this reviewer figured out what was going on. Wright established an interesting cast to realize his nightmare. Thomasin McKenzie brings a real Jennifer Jason Leigh quality to Ellie and Anya Taylor-Joy, Golden Globe winner for The Queen's Gambit is hauntingly ethereal as Sandie. And to give it authentic 60's cinematic flavor, 60's actors Terrence Stamp and the long absent from the screen Rita Tushingham appear in supporting roles, as does, in her final feature film appearance, Dame Diana Rigg, nearly unrecognizable in a dazzling performance as Mrs. Collins. It takes a minute to get going and wraps up a little too quickly, but this reviewer was riveted to the screen.