Sunday, April 3, 2022

Last Night in Soho (2021)

IMDb plot summary: An aspiring fashion designer is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something darker.
Directed by Edgar Wright. Starring Thomasin Mackenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Matt Smith.

Last Night in Soho stars Thomasin Mackenzie as a young fashion student with a gift for the supernatural. She becomes fascinated with a ghost, a young woman from the 1960s who seems to have it all, until the darker parts of her past are revealed and leave Mackenzie deeply troubled. This was nothing like I expected it to be as an Edgar Wright film, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, just a different one. It's not a comedy, for one thing, but a strange surreal horror/mystery that I found thoroughly compelling once I stopped expecting witty one-liners and meta commentary (though Wright's familiar gift for finding the perfect soundtrack is definitely on display here!). The story comes to a rather melodramatic climax, but it all works for me. The film goes on a ride from coming-of-age story to nightmarish horror to gothic melodrama, and maybe not having any inkling of what the film was before hand made that an easier transition, as I wasn't expecting it to "settle" into any of these one genres. It's absolutely nothing like Wright's made before, but it's a fascinating step in a new direction for him, and I wouldn't be sorry to see more of it.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Last Night in Soho > The Keep
Last Night in Soho > Munich
Last Night in Soho < Hearts Beat Loud
Last Night in Soho < Grave of the Fireflies
Last Night in Soho > Is It College Yet?
Last Night in Soho < Judgment at Nuremberg
Last Night in Soho > The Great Gatsby (2013)
Last Night in Soho < Four Lions
Last Night in Soho < CODA
Last Night in Soho > Il Postino: The Postman
Last Night in Soho > Holiday (1930)
Last Night in Soho < Roxanne
Final spot: #744 out of 3554, or 79%.

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