Rent Last Night in Soho (2021)

A Ghoulish Mess - Last Night in Soho review by JR

Tonally and plot wise the film is a mess and the writing is poor with stereotypical characters and stilted cliched dialogue. It starts as a rather cliched psychological thriller of lonely young woman in the big city's descent into mental illness; then it is all about coercive control and sexual exploitation of women, but then changes again into a clunky, OTT horror/slasher film. It seems the film maker didn't know when to stop and threw everything, including the kitchen sink, into it. There are some stylish recreations of a fantasy 1960's Soho, but that is negated by the rest of the film. Thomasin McKenzie, who was so impressive in 'Leave No Trace' is wasted on such a poor script and is reduced to looking frightened and doing a lot of frenzied running.

Two films for one - Last Night in Soho review by AER

The 60s element to Last Night in Soho are much better than the modern-day bits. The modern sections exist in a heightened film reality occupied by other big-budget British films like Bridget Jones (its recognisable as our world but it's a little bit too neat). The technical side to the film is mindblowing, seamless editing, choreography, blocking, and set design all add up to an immaculate looking film. Whilst this all counts, it needs a good story to land on, and this mystery will keep you guessing right up until the end. I was entertained and bewildered for much of the time; it's easy to follow with compelling characters. At times, some of the actors can't sell their characters to us - particularly newcomers Synnove Karlsen, and Michael Ajao who are saddled with stock-characters and bad lines - and I found this jarring. However, the lead actors were uniformly amazing and kept the intrigue levels high.

7 out of 10

An exuberant blast - Last Night in Soho review by Alphaville

In the present day 18yo Ellie goes to London full of longing for the 60s vibe, but she’s a troubled soul. This is a film that lures you in with its 60s enthusiasm then straps you in for a wild journey in and out of the 60s, complete with 60s soundtrack. The less you know about the plot the better, so (as usual) try to avoid the trailer and spoiler reviews such as the CP one. Directed by Edgar Wright with some terrific visual effects and choreography and with the same verve he brought to films such as Hot Fuzz.

Enjoyable, intriguing, and stylish - Last Night in Soho review by WB

Interesting film. I can't say too much without giving a lot away so I won't go too much into the plot, but suffice to say, just when I thought I had the mystery solved (and said as much to my fiancé), the rug was pulled brilliantly!

Good cast. Anya Taylor-Joy is nailed on to be a massive name in both mainstream cinema as well as more artistically interesting films, and Thomasin McKenzie is a name I wasn't familiar with but I'm sure I'll see more from her. Very good turn by the late Diana Rigg, and Matt Smith puts on a good show as a volatile underworld figure.

Also very stylishly shot, and with a great soundtrack.

Definitely one I'd recommend

Sorry, NOT impressed… - Last Night in Soho review by JM

A few nights ago, I saw LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, by the one and only Edgar Wright. Here's my thoughts...

 To start with, I was blown away by the look and feel that Maestro Wright achieved in the film. London, whether in the present or the 1960s, never looked so good! It made me wish I was there. Pity I couldn't say the same about Thomasin MacKenzie in the lead. She started brilliant but was ultimately a blandola, outacted and outgunned by the rest of the cast - Anya Taylor-Joy, Terry Stamp, Matt Smith, et al, wiped the floor with her.

Owing to her near-constant presence, this also conspired to make the film a bit of a chore to watch: I became somewhat aggrieved that Maestro Wright took two hours to tell a story that the old JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN and HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR TV shows told more succinctly, more powerfully, in less than an hour. But what's this? The denouement is a doozy! It almost - almost! - saves the film from oblivion, but not quite. Still, it's quite the memorable scene, and one not to forget in a hurry. But not enough to make one forget the hour and fifty minutes I had to sit through!

Maestro Wright, go back to Simon Pegg...

Good-looking but Simplistic Timeslip Drama that eventually gets Bogged Down in Gender Politics - Last Night in Soho review by PV

I really REALLY wanted to like this - the era and music of the 1960s and location in SoHo which I've known well since the 80s attracted me instantly.

It's the last film Terence Stamp acted in too. I presume it was filmed in 2019 before Covid lockdown then had a delayed release.

However, this turns out to be a sort of #metoo manhating revenge drama. It looks and feels like a film school student short film, maybe a vanity project, and is set in the pub and streets where the writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns worked and lived in her youth in London in the late 2000s. No doubt working through some issues here. Her career boosted by Sam Mandes handpicking her to cowrite 1917 with him. Lucky her...

The ending? Well, meh. All unlikely and a fantasy, and one wonders if a man doing what a woman did would be so readily forgiven.

As ever I play the EQUAL AND OPPOSITE game - if a movie showed all women as being monsters and all men as innocent victims, it would annoy me as much as this. It's just plain silly not to mention sexist, really quite misandrist and the portrayal of Hackney cab drivers is borderline libellous and defamatory perhaps.

And literally the ONLY male person here who is not a man monster is the black friend from the fashion student's course. It's almost like a bad episode of Woke Dr Who.

There are plenty of better timeslip dramas out there. This gets bogged down in gender politics way too much. Great soundtrack, sure, and I liked the way the switch between characters happens BUT there is no real reason for it for happen, it just does. You'll need to make a great effort to suspend your disbelief here really...

Edgar Wright's peak was Shaun of the Dead way back in 2004.

And I wanted to like this more, I really did, and almost 3 stars but not quite, so 2 stars. This is really mediocre stuff, to be honest.

Bold, imaginative and eerie! - Last Night in Soho review by KW

Eloise, an eighteen-year-old student, moves from rural Cornwall to London to study fashion, and whilst the opportunity is exciting, she really wishes she had been there in the 1960s, that time of Carnaby Street fashion, creativity and glamour. After suffering the kind of horrific freshers' experience that her grandmother was worried about, Eloise moves into a bedsit in Soho, away from the bullying glare of her contemporaries on the course. She unpacks her 60s records, dreams of the 60s, and then goes downstairs into the streets of Soho, where it is now the 1960s and a very Technicolor 60s at that, reminiscent of 'Peeping Tom.' In the 1960s Eloise partly follows and partly embodies Sandie, a wannabe singer hoping to be the next Cilla Black, who is routinely exploited by the seedy men who lurk in every dark corner of Soho. As the film progresses, past and present get very muddled, and Eloise must not allow the past to catch up with her.

Last Night in Soho is a magnificent, bold piece of cinema. I thought the early scenes where Eloise and Sandie have to mirror each other benefited from really clever visual effects and performances with fantastic attention to detail. To pull off a film this mad, I suppose you have to commit and everyone does, from the woman who played Mrs Doyle in Father Ted kindly offering Eloise a job (but not a cup of tea) to Terence Stamp oozing something sinister and creepily 1960s whilst nursing a drink at the bar, to Matt Smith being much, much meaner than we've ever seen him before, to the music soundtrack that accents glamour, sleaze and ghostly presences all at the same time.

The last scene felt like a bit of a tagged on Hollywood ending, but I can forgive this because what precedes is so eye poppingly mad.

Last Night in Soho is not a scary film but it is quite eerie. Top tip to freak your partner out - watch it with them late at night, then set Alexa or similar to come on at 2 a.m. playing the song, 'Last Night in Soho.' They will forgive you in the end. Maybe.