Last Night in Soho

Dir Edgar Wright

Written by Edgar Wright, Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao.

Eloise Turner (McKenzie), is a young lady from countryside England, who wins a spot in a prestigious school for fashion design. She moves to London for it, and finds herself at odds with some of her classmates, with the cliché mean girl room mate at the student accommodation.

She decides to move out of the student accommodation, and into the spare room of Ms Collins (Rigg, in her final film role), a kindly elderly woman who becomes a sounding board for her.

She has always seen visions of her late mother, and soon starts dreaming about a young woman, by the name of Sandie (Taylor-Joy), who once lived in the same room, in her favourite era, the 1960’s.

The dreams show Sandie’s romance with the dashing Jack (Smith), and her desire to become a singing sensation. As the dreams grow more intense, she soon starts seeing the relationship in a darker light, before a shocking conclusion – that Eloise now tries to solve over 60 years later.

Well directed film from Wright, which starts off quite organic – and works its way into a colourfully vibrant world of the 1960s. It is well choreographed, especially with the musical numbers, as well as the scenes in which McKenzie and Taylor-Joy are in the dream sequences and they are reflected by one another. It does drag on for a little bit at almost 120m, it could have done with some editing as it has some odd pacing.

There are one or two red herrings that are placed throughout the film, with a fairly obvious reveal in the last act. The extra layer to this reveal is a little disappointing (if you know you know). The cast work well together, especially placing McKenzie against such movie royalty like Stamp and Riggs in several intense scenes.

Despite the pacing issues, and length, this was still a good film. It is a little graphic with the violence, as per usual for Wright, so not for kids.

3.5/5