Last Night in Soho (2021)

I had high hopes for this picture by director and cowriter Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), even after I started noticing the mixed reviews. These reviews were not only mixed, but they also tended toward extremes of love or hate. Well, I didn't hate Last Night in Soho myself, but I have to count it as underwhelming and ultimately a disappointment. The story is about a girl from the English sticks, Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie), who dreams of moving to London and becoming a fashion designer. She is infatuated with 1960s "Swinging London," but perhaps not surprisingly, Repulsion style, she finds the big city a cold and frightening place when she gets there. She ends up in a peculiar rooming-house and at night has strange and vivid dreams. She finds herself back in 1960s London, inhabiting the body of Sandie (Anna Taylor-Joy), who is trying to make it as a singer but has acquired a sleazy manager who is pressing her into prostitution. It's all glamorous and tawdry and harrowing and then Eloise wakes up. Her alarm clock sounds just like mine and was very annoying. I was happy to see her smash it finally. During the day Eloise shows talent in her fashion design studies but is up against catty and unfriendly fellow students. Eventually, as the detailed explanations start to emerge (and everything is explained in detail), it turns into a kind of formal ghost story that is not particularly interesting. But it does tie everything together, which might be what people like about it so much. I think more likely it's the fantasy depiction of Swinging London. It surprised me I couldn't work up a plausible nostalgia, even with authentic London-based hits of the era crowding the soundtrack (the Who, Cilla Black, Walker Brothers, etc.). The cast is impressive: I've seen good and bad from the widely exposed McKenzie (Leave No Trace and Lost Girls, respectively). Taylor-Joy doesn't have a lot to do except look '60s-gorgeous, which is a shame in a way because she has showed how much she has in both The Queen's Gambit and The VVitch, excellent in such different ways. Diana Rigg as the colorful landlady of Eloise's rooming-house is excellent and a wonderful surprise. I didn't even realize it was her until the credits ran. But these various parts, however good, did not add up to much of a whole for me. Approach with caution, bearing in mind you may love it wildly.

See DoestheDogDie report.