A young, pretty and naive country girl heads to the big city with aspirations of becoming the overnight success story she always dreamed of. Only to be confronted by a barrage of perverted predators looking to feed on hot young flesh in return. Tell me if you haven't heard that story before? It’s an age old riff that we usually see play out under the neon-lights of a Hollywood backdrop. However, ‘Last Night In Soho’ transports this age-old story to the swingin’ psychedelic 60’s Soho in London.
Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is an aspiring young fashion designer who moves to Soho as she enters University for her first semester. Having grown up under the loving eye of her grandmother, she has developed a deep love for 60s Brit-Pop culture. However, this makes her stick out like a sore thumb amongst her more trendy dorm-mates leaving her as a target of ridicule. Seeking solace away from her catty roommates, she finds a cheap apartment for rent under the watchful eye of an edlerly landlord (Diana Rigg).
As Eloise’s head hits the pillow, she finds herself dreaming of Soho in the 60s. She dreams of a woman named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy); a strikingly beautiful doe-eyed blonde and also an aspiring singer. Sandie finds herself being charmed by a debonair named Jack (Matt Smith). It all seems too good to be true and with good reason as we quickly discover that Jack is not all he seems.
Eloise’s dreams then become nightmares as she watches Sandie descend into the sordid world of prostitution at the hands of Jack and his buddies. Meanwhile, Eloise’s own life turns to hell as the ghosts of the past seemingly cross over from dream-world into reality as they haunt her day-to-day life.
The 60’s is an era that certainly has an ever-lasting appeal. 60’s fashion comes in and out of style regularly amongst hipsters. Bands like Oasis still riff on The Beatles to this day. It was a time of sexual liberation and changing social attitudes. A time of emerging rock-and-roll. But it was also a time that had its own fair share of seediness boiling beneath the surface. Not unlike the world we live in today if you consider the likes of the ‘Me-Too’ movement. As times change, some things remain the same and that’s ultimately what is revealed at the heart of this dark parallel story.
Right from the outset, Thomasin McKenzie does well to portray Eloise as an old-soul stuck in a time period she doesn’t fit into. She lives in her own bubble, dancing around her room to Brit-Pop tunes. She has her own unique brand of oddball fashion as she is first introduced wearing a dress made from old newspapers. It’s all very clearly 60’s inspired. All of which makes her the perfect fish out of water upon entering the big smoke.
As she continuously enters the dream world of Sandie, she becomes more and more consumed by the glamour of nostalgia. She becomes more and more enraptured by the seemingly glamorous life of Sandie. So much so that she goes on to try and recreate Sandie’s physical appearance in a vain attempt to embody her.
One of the more striking visual highlights of the film is when Eloise first steps back into the past and finds herself bombarded by the bright garish lights of a cinema-marquee promoting ‘Sean Connery in Thunderball.’ Another sequence of note is an incredible dance number where the perspectives of Sandie and Eloise change constantly mid dance. It's very well executed as a whole. Alongside the gorgeous cinematography by Chung Hoon-Choo is a dazzling 60’s soundtrack to help build the mood. It really goes out of its way to capture the glamour of its time period.
But it also highlights the stark contrast between 60s Soho and the more dingy and worn-down present day Soho. For not only are the ghosts of the past haunting Eloise, they’re also still haunting the city landscape in general. It evokes much the same love-note feeling as Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ as it transports you back in time perfectly recreating an idealistic version of former ‘Soho’.
Being a Horror film though, it doesn’t take long for the glam to be stripped away exposing the real horrors lurking beneath. It’s here where Wright really excels. While this technically isn’t his first foray into the horror genre, it is most certainly a more straight laced horror film than anything he has made before. ‘Soho’ clearly takes its influences from the Argento school of Horror. Obviously, the Argento comparisons can’t help but be made given the visual flair ‘Soho’ has about it. Thankfully though, it still manages to find its own voice along the way.
As the time periods merge, the story further twists and turns. If there is maybe one critique to be had, it’s that it does get a little too familiar in the back-end and doesn’t entirely break new mould. But as a coming-of-age story meets psychedelic horror piece, it does pay off well enough in the end.
It doesn’t always make complete sense in the logic department. Though being a film of such high concept means it can get away with that from time to time. After all, this is a film that is more concerned about the theme than it is a cohesive logical narrative. In that department, the theme rings loud and clear. Even if that theme is maybe a little played out at times. Still, under the confident hand of Edgar Wright and company, ‘Soho’ makes for a most effective and stylish piece of psychedelic horror-cinema all around.
-Daniel M
0 comments:
Post a Comment