Last Night in Soho

Last Night in Soho

A young girl, passionate about fashion design, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer. But 1960s London is not what it seems, and time seems to be falling apart with shady consequences.

  • Released: 2021-10-21
  • Runtime: 117 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Horror, Thrillers
  • Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg, Synnøve Karlsen, Rita Tushingham, Lisa McGrillis, Michael Jibson, Andrew Bicknell, Michael Ajao, Colin Mace, Oliver Phelps, Jessie Mei Li, Lee Byford, Will Rogers, Will Rowlands, Margaret Nolan, Katrina Vasilieva, Kassius Nelson, Georgie Banks, Rebecca Harrod, Sam Parks, Connor Calland, Nick Owenford, Josh Zaré, Adam Sopp, Nina Kumar, Maud Druine, Joakim Skarli, Lati Gbaja, Georgina Frances Hart, Barbara Orti, Richard Price, Paul Riddell, Grace Binford Sheene, Jacob Trup, Morgan Bull, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Berrington, Pauline McLynn, Aimée Cassettari, Alan Mahon, Jacqui-Lee Pryce, James Phelps, Beth Singh, Paul Brightwell, Will Rogers, Terence Frisch, Celeste Dring, Jeanie Wishes, Richard Corgan, Michael Mears, Tom Hartwell, Paul Hamilton, Wayne Cater, Alan Ruscoe, Christopher Carrico, Kent Goldfinch, Ian Harrod, Ian Hartley, Luke Hope, Daniel Maggott, Richard O'Sullivan, Al Roberts, Derek Lea, Al Roberts
  • Director: Edgar Wright
 Comments
  • JamieClaye - 8 January 2023
    Don't waste your time - started well but ended poorly
    Some (mostly) great casting and very clever visual effects could not save this from an empty and insulting ending.

    As many have pointed out, the first half of the film is very entertaining and mysterious but when the train derails in the second half, it's quite the wreck.

    First we're shown that a young girl (Eloise) who is heading off to design school can see her dead mother (magically through mirrors of course). But is that insanity or metaphysical? She hints that her mother died of some mental malady.

    At school, she is immediately rejected by the cool girls. Eloise slowly develops a relationship with one of the few young male leads who is also attending the fashion design school and is also (hard to believe) straight. Did I mention he is black? That felt like a 'check mark' on a progressive achievement list. Not that there's anything wrong with that. He seems like a nice young actor but was one of the weaker characters in the story.

    Because the mean girls are so mean, Eloise moves out of the school dorm, renting a nearby loft. The landlord is a stern but reasonable matron (Diana Rigg).

    Eloise's first night sleeping in the loft is magical and (via her dream?) she finds herself transported back to the 60s where she is both herself watching and Sandie, a young woman with stars in her eyes. This is where many of the very clever visual effects take place as Eloise and Sandie are swapped out on camera and in mirrors. This is why I gave this movie 3 stars.

    Life as/with Sandie seems to be wonderful and magical with Eloise even getting a hickey from her nocturnal adventures. The story starts to get dark as Eloise discovers Sandie has descended into the life of a prostitute that 'evil men' forced her into with the lure of stardom. When Eloise sees/dreams that Sandie gets murdered and she and her new boyfriend take on the task of unmasking the killer.

    I should note, the story takes place in our modern day world, however the technology that we're immersed in makes rare appearances. Eloise does have a smart phone in one scene but instead uses a pay phone to call her grandmother later. NO ONE uses smartphones in any significant manner (not even the mean girls) and later when Eloise is researching the murder she thinks she witnessed, she goes to the public library instead of Google. Maybe if they had established that she rejects smartphones OR had problems with her phone's battery that could justify this contrivance but NO ONE EVER in ANY PUBLIC SCENE is seen using a smartphone. Obviously this is some alternative reality the writer needed to make the story (in their head) work.

    When the macabre events of seeing dead face distorted men increases, the 'train' finally derails and falls into the abyss.

    It was clear Diana Rigg was going to have a key roll but are you ready for this? Turns out she is a serial killer of 20+ men - she hid the bodies in that very loft 60 years ago. She managed to kill them brutally, clean up the mess, hide the bodies under the floorboards, mask the smell, evade any investigations and continue on her day-to-day life, eventually earning enough money to buy the building with the loft. Boy is that a lot to let go of.

    When it is revealed to Eloise that Rigg is Sandie AND the killer, a chase ensues resulting in an ashtray with a lit cigarette falls into a bin with a collection of vinyl records. Suddenly the house is ablaze and dead men rise from every possible cliché location.

    Eloise realizes she chose the wrong loft to rent.

    After chasing Eloise into the loft, Diana Rigg's character realizes she has been found out and accepts her fate to burn to death and Eloise and her boyfriend escape DIAF.

    Not a fitting farewell to Diana Rigg.

    And to add insult to injury, the final scene is a year later - Eloise's fashion show debut. Hideous designs on gender neutral looking models. She sees her happy mom in one mirror and in the final twist, she looks into another mirror and there is Sandie.

    I mean what the eff?

    If you like train wreck endings, this is a good film to study.
  • lamiamail - 10 December 2022
    Well crafted, but there's too much going on
    This is undoubtedly a very well-crafted product, full of emotional moments, but it cannot decide if it's a vintage comedy/portrait, a noir, or a psychological thriller.

    There is sooo much going on at every single moment, and the watcher is constantly pulled around by one or more genres this movie decides it can represent, apparently without any issue.

    The result is dazzling and puzzling, I really cannot go under 6 stars, but if the screenwriting was clearer, the result would be much more powerful, and meaningful.

    Don't want to spoil anything, but the feeling of unsatisfaction at the end was palpable to me.