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Edgar Wright returns with his neon splashed Last Night in Soho! But is it a night worth remembering?
‘Soho’ is Wright’s attempt at a more horror/thriller kind of film. The film is about a young woman who travels to London to study in fashion design. Upon arrival she dreams of a woman in the 60’s who she idolizes but of course, things are not as they seem.
So, let’s begin with all the great things this movie has first Thomasin Mackenzie and Anya Taylor Joy are wonderful to see on screen. Their performance and uniqueness are the best part of this film. Whether it’s Thomasin’s thin and raspy quiet voice that alludes to her shyness and withdrawal. Or It’s the absolute beauty of Anya (and her costumes) and her ability to really showcase layers of emotions. Both are a thrill to see.
And… Well.
I think that’s where the great things of this film ends. I will admit this here, I am a huge Edgar Wright fan. Scott Pilgrim and The World’s End are probably both in my top 10 films of all time. I love his visual eye and style and kinetic energy. With that being said.
The rest of the film’s elements are a major disappointment to me.
The visuals, though at times I see Wright’s brilliance in composition and movement and transitions, it was rare and far between and even when they where there, it ended up giving this film a weird tonal dissonance that I could not connect with. By far, I think this is his weakest film. There are some beautiful shots of intense neon lighting and shadow and light. But again, they are but brief glimmers of Wright’s eye, but the majority of this film feels completely stripped of his familiar essence. Which maybe that was his intension as it does seem he is aiming for more serious work. But what remains here is... well, it wasn’t great.
The biggest issue for me was the tone of the film. When the film reveals the “evil” of the story and how that “evil” is visualized I immediately snapped out of this film. And that happens around the midpoint of this film. So, the first half of this is good and I was ready to see the buildup and pay off of this story and theme, which the central theme and idea of this film I think is a great and exciting and worthwhile one to follow. But when the film kicks into more of a horror, it completely derails.
The film falls into the same tired tropes of generic horror films and loses all sense of depth or reality or tension. It puzzled me how bad the film became for me as it went on. The dialogue and interactions began to feel completely fake and forced. The performances dragged into the obvious. And the tension and editing dulled to the point of one climatic moment of our lead screaming over and over again at the just awful, awful, visual design of the “evil” in the film. I will be honest and say I nearly physically cringed at this moment and at the entire end of the film.
For me it even got to straight to DVD/DOD/ type films with how obvious and generic it got. Which is staggering for me to even write. As again. I love Wright’s work.
The score as well sounded bad to me, and the song selection this time around for the 60’s was just bland. I never got that real needle drop feel that I have loved about previous Wright films.
I will say I did like seeing the costume work, sets and the camera techniques. Speaking of techniques, I loved the whole mirror image sequences and the playing of having two actresses actually performing with each other, vs green screen. The film does retain the feeling of most of the effects being in camera.
So, In ending
6/10
This unfortunately is the weakest Edgar Wright film for me so far. ‘Soho’ feels like a film that is stripped of the creativity and originality that he is known for and what is left is still visually appealing, but it lacks that interesting spark. The story/script is his thinnest yet with no real depth or emotional stakes by the end of it. Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor Joy are amazing to see on screen but the film in the second half devolves into something that feels incredibly forced, flat and generic. Truly a disappointment for me.