REVIEW: Downtown, darkness is waiting for you

Friday 05 November 2021

Last Night in Soho is a love letter to anyone who has at some point wished they were born in a different time, and a cautionary warning not to indulge that fantasy too much.

An intoxicating supernatural ride between the past and present, director Edgar Wright uses his own love of the Soho area and its history to tell a story that puts rose tinted glasses on its audience and then rips them back off again.

From the opening frames, the lines between times blurred, as we meet Eloise, played with a twinkling innocence by Thomasin Mackenzie.

A fashion student with a love of all things 60s, we open in her room, as covered with cuttings and posters as she is in herself in her newspaper dress, and records from the Kinks, the Who and Cilla piled up around the place.

Video: "Shot on many of the actual streets of Soho, it could be argued that the location is Mackenzie and Taylor-Joy's main co-star..."

Such is Eloise and the film's infatuation with the era she loves so much in these first ten minutes, that when she first leaves her countryside bubble and comes to the city to begin her uni course, the 2021 modernity is as much a shock to the system for us as it is for her, as she begins to realise her mother's warning...

"It's not what you'd imagine, London."

Whilst it would be as scandalous as a night out in Soho to reveal too much of a film that is engineered for surprises, it's not too far to say that the past soon begins to bleed its way into film, as Eloise becomes entangled in the parallel story of an aspiring singer from the 1960s, Sandie, played by Anya Taylor Joy.

Using his deft understanding of genre, Wright calls on an array of influences to take us on both Eloise's and Sandie's journeys, proving he can mash up his tones just as well as he did in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End, but keeping his tongue firmly out his cheek this time and playing it straight.

From the thrilling free-wheeling feeling of the 60s French New Wave to the garish colours of Italian horror 'giallo' cinema, he lets the film seduce you, before slowly letting the mask slip and the darker underbelly of the city reveal itself, complete with leering male gaze and monsters both literal and proverbial.

Pictured: "Using his deft understanding of genre, Wright calls on an array of influences to take us on both Eloise's and Sandie's journeys..."

Shot on many of the actual streets of Soho, it could be argued that the location is Mackenzie and Taylor-Joy's main co-star, giving as much character to the film as the fantastic supporting turns from Matt Smith and the late 60s icon Diana Rigg in her fitting final film role.

The flashing neon signs, the shadowy alleyways, and the sense of history emanating from every building is perhaps what gives the film its weight, truly convincing us that there's hundreds of stories and ghosts just waiting to be unleashed again.

And when Wright does take us back to the glitz and glamour of the 1960s, he does so with the extravagance of Dorothy's entrance into Oz, pushing us into a dreamy wonderland that's easy to get lost in.

Though in its determination to bring its mystery to a climax, there are a couple of moments later in the film where characters act inexplicably, you're as wrapped up in the fantasy as they are by that point, and an overall tight script from Wright and co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns makes sure to keep an even tighter grip on your attention.

A psychic guided tour through London's streets and its history, a bloody thriller indebted to Europe's finest fright-maestros, and a simple fantasy about wanting to be someone else, it's an absolute joy to be taken 'downtown' by this film.

As the song goes, "everything's waiting for you" - the bright lights, the romance - and the dark alleys you'd rather avoid at night...