An impassioned love letter to both the horror genre and the Swinging Sixties.
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Edgar Wright’s love letter to his favourite genre is the most stylistic horror film we’ve seen in a while. True to the director’s fashion, Last Night in Soho is not short of expertly crafted visuals that sell.
The attention to detail in the set and costume designs for the film really built the world he was trying to immerse his audience in. We’ve never been to London in the 60s but we’d like to think it's just as we see it. Viewers’ experience of the setting goes hand in hand with its lead character’s.
Thomasin McKenzie was perfectly cast as Ellie Turner, the endearing doe-eyed lead who loves fashion and music but has a history of seeing dead people (read: her mother). But if we’re being honest, it’s Anya Taylor-Joy’s captivating performance as Sandie Collins that stole the show. Her sultry rendition of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” was just the cherry on the cake.
Despite playing into his strengths, Last Night in Soho does feel like Wright’s weakest film yet (but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good). It is clear that he tried to incorporate modern-day relevance in his homage to the Swinging Sixties, a move to give his film more substance perhaps but a move that also disrupts the flow of the film to an extend. He is reaching into new territory, after all, this film marks the first time he features female leads.
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