Last Night In Soho review
London Film Festival series 2021
Edgar Wright’s racing, lurching horror romp is a gaudy and exciting nostalgia-trip that sweeps us away to both the glamour and the horror of 60s Soho, reminding us of the dangers of escaping to rose-tinted fantasies of the past. All aboard the ghost train…
A silhouette appears in a door frame, the warm, bright lights shine through from behind them, a classic 60s tune kicks in and the title appears: the show has begun.
As the lights adjust we are in a teenage girl’s bedroom, and the figure is a dancing, hopeful, excited teenage girl, Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) , set for London where she is due to study fashion and dreams of being a designer. The song is Peter and Gordon’s A World Without Love, and the mood is buoyant- the retro track and her very 60s bedroom revealing the nostalgia that is stamped into every aspect of the film. This is a love letter to the 60s, even down to the casting of stars of the decade; Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp and Margaret Nolan are amongst the faces that inhabit this world.
Eloise’s transition to London is not as easy as it may seem: she leaves her grandma and life in Cornwall behind, but takes with her a grief which seems to manifest itself in visions of her late mother, who we hear suffered an unnamed mental illness, unable to handle the intensity of London. But when Eloise arrives the university experience distracts her. She soon meets her roommate Jocasta, who is scarily recognisable yet comical in her accuracy as a two-faced queen bee, disguising her cut-throat emotional abuse in pointed comments, fake smiles and a sassy attitude. Rejected and picked on by the cliquey girls (we’ve all been there) she moves out of the student halls and applies for a bedsit in an old building in Fitzrovia. Soon the room, illuminated by the red and blue flashing lights of a sign outside, becomes a doorway to a 60s dream world; kaleidoscopic and dazzling. It is home to Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy), an aspirational, sharp and ambitious young girl seeking stardom.
But the dreams don’t last and as the mirror begins to splinter, the glamour gives way to the darker underbelly of this world, trapping Eloise between decades, the ghostly traces of her dreams seeping into present-day London. The handsome ‘talent manager’ (Matt Smith) she thought was her ticket to a brighter future switches from charming to villainous in an instant and now the predators are surrounding her through the smoke of the nightclub.
Wright moved to London 26 years ago, telling Sight and Sound Magazine that he’s spent more time in Soho “than any on any other couch in any place I’ve lived in.” His love for the city comes across, and feels woven into the very fabric of the film- the history that lurks in the walls; the vibrant, frenetic energy that fuels every step and seems to dissipate upwards from the ground.
But its an area that also has a shadowy side, and this, for me, is paramount to the films ability to go beyond the jump-scares. It makes a more poignant comment on the darker elements of night life in Soho during the period, which are often shrouded by rose-tinted accounts of the glamor. Wright explains that “I always used to feel that there was an energy change at night, especially after 2am - there’s a feeling that what’s fun is starting to turn potentially dark”. As the story progresses these heavier themes become ever-more prominent leading up to the final screeching climax, and lend the film substance beyond the surface stylistic edge that we expect from Wright.
But the film is, of course, nonetheless reliant on the tropes of horror, with rising tension and many a jump. Ultimately the thrilling genre tropes are what grip you (I found myself edging down my seat until I was practically lying down wedged in the corner against the arm), rather than any emotional investment in the characters. It is fast-moving and kinetic - with gaudy flashing lights and spinning camera work, it plays much like a theme park ride, or perhaps more fittingly, a ghost train. It successfully borrows from and pays homage to classics of the genre borrowing from Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and Don’t Look Now (1968) and becomes a layered and thrilling affair.
The music provides a constant kick throughout, giving the film its vibrant energy, as per with Wright, who uses music masterfully (highlights include James Ray, Cilla Black and Van Morrison).
“This is London,” the witty Miss Collins tells Eloise. “Someone has died in every room and every building and on every street corner in the city” - the city is built on the past, and you can’t escape its shadows.
In cinemas October 29, Cert. 18