It's been four years since the release of Edgar Wright's last film. The director's fans demanded more. And we got it.
Synopsis
Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie), a girl from Cornwall, comes to London to study fashion design. Life in the big city isn't easy, and assimilating into the peer group proves to be an impossible task.
Under mysterious circumstances, Ellie, who has settled in the Soho area, becomes a witness (and even in some sense a direct participant) of events that unfolded in the sixties around the enigmatic and captivating Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy). And now Ellie can no longer find the boundary between dream and reality, and the stakes keep rising…
We, longtime fans of Wright, knew that at least two cinematic components would be good. But we couldn't even imagine how good.
The Perfect Soundtrack of "Last Night in Soho"
From the very first frames, the viewer is made clear that the music will be a full-fledged character. And it really is. I think even before "Baby Driver" everyone perfectly saw heard how brilliantly Wright approaches the soundtrack and its intertwining with the main action. Aesthetics.
Interestingly, Edgar avoids overused melodies, even though they all seem vaguely familiar. An excellent balance that allows you to hear the song and note it, but not be distracted from what's happening.
The Perfect Visuals of "Last Night in Soho"
At the same time, the film looks breathtaking, especially in the first half. It's one of those cases where the brain realizes that there was an edit somewhere, but is still so impressed that it doesn't understand how. This achieves a great sense of wrongness, unnaturalness, which adds points to the film as a thriller.
Everything, from lighting to cinematography, is top-notch, which not even the biggest Hollywood names always deliver. And this is British cinema!
The Ensemble Cast
Again, we single out the cast and their work.
Taylor-Joy is gradually becoming a style icon, so refined and mesmerizing that she doesn't even need to do anything. Matt Smith surprises with his latest transformation, as far as possible from the cute and awkward Eleventh Doctor. Add pleasant cameos from Potterverse actors (you'll notice or not, that's the question) and Game of Thrones, and you get a great formula.
With such a cast, the main thing is that the lead actress doesn't let us down, right?
Well, in most cases, Thomasin McKenzie handles her task easily and effortlessly. But this impression is slightly marred by the fact that the young and inexperienced actress still seems not to have developed a wide enough range of emoting. For now, it's too one-sided – and yet not enough to spoil what she does well.
Edgar Wright's Metamorphoses
Directors with a certain style often find it quite difficult to step even one step away from that style and try something new. Why improve something good? I can recall at least one, which, by the way, should be in theaters right now.
Therefore, the changes that Wright's work undergoes seem even surprising. We are used to the fast and sharp visual comedy of "Scott Pilgrim" and the Cornetto trilogy, where you are bombarded with hundreds of multi-layered jokes, gags, and references per second. "Baby" was the first attempt to deviate from the trajectory, which slightly cooled the enthusiasm of part of the audience.
And how pleasant it is that Edgar did not give in and continued to explore other genres, using the skills acquired in comedy to create a very solid paranormal thriller.
Does the film have downsides? Yes, definitely. They mainly concern the plot, which turned out to be undercooked in terms of resolution, full of plot holes, and in some places almost stops just to give the viewer a long beautiful scene on the streets of Soho. But damn, how beautiful!
In this case, the viewer is not even too opposed to the understatement and lack of explanations in the plot, because this allows the director to place emphasis elsewhere. This film is not so much about plot as it is about impressions and sensations – and it delivers there. A rollercoaster of impressions is guaranteed – one minute the viewer wants to smile, the next they are filled with disgust. I love it.
Conclusion
Don't go to "Last Night in Soho" to compare it with Wright's previous works. But if you want to get hit by a retro wave of the sixties, with a gorgeous soundtrack and in an incredibly beautiful package, you will get it.
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