Film Review: LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (2021): Anya Taylor-Joy Steals The Show In Edgar Wright’s Twisty Thriller

Last Night In Soho Review

Last Night In Soho (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Edgar Wright and starring Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Aimee Cassettari, Rita Tushingham, Colin Mace, Michael Ajao, Synnove Karlsen, Jessie Mei Li, Kassius Nelson, Rebecca Harrod, Alan Mahon, Connor Calland, Pauline McLynn, Josh Zare, Terence Stamp and Jacqui-Lee Pryce.

Edgar Wright’s new film, Last Night in Soho, is deceptively complex. Especially in its first hour, the film seems poised to be leading somewhere that audiences have never been before and as the movie progresses, the audience will start getting their appetites ready for an unprecedented, delicious climax. As the plot twists start building up, however, and the lead character in the film, Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie of Old), becomes more and more entangled in the seemingly complex labyrinth of a plot, the less interesting the story becomes. That’s because the story line is really not that complicated at all. However, Wright’s ability to toy with our minds is to be commended because he had me thinking all sorts of crazy ideas about where this plot would lead and it never quite made it to any of those places I imagined it would.

This film, however, showcases one of the year’s most exciting performances in the role of Sandie. Anya Taylor-Joy of The Witch has made it to stardom with her work in this movie. Although, the best place to start with analyzing her performance would probably be starting at the beginning with a plot recap, I’m going to jump ahead a bit. Anya Taylor-Joy radiates excitement and sexiness through her terrific turn in this very unusual film. When she’s dancing and moving around on the dance floor or even as she simply walks through a scene, she is a total movie star in every respect. This is a movie which will be remembered for her performance more than the ghoulish images at the end and more than the way the movie teases the audience with the promise of something much more unpredictable. Because of Anya Taylor-Joy’s tremendous work, I eagerly anticipated each time she would appear in the movie and only wished she had a bit more screen time. But, she has enough to make this movie work and it’s a bona-fide success because of her.

Now for that brief plot rundown. The film opens with a fashion student named Eloise (McKenzie) dancing in her home and in her bedroom. It’s such a terrific opening scene that it reminds me of the time Elisabeth Shue was dancing in her bedroom at the start of the classic movie, Adventures of Babysitting, from the late 1980’s. Edgar Wright perfectly starts his film and the movie continues a smashingly successful series of scenes for a bit. Eloise is going to the London College of Fashion where she wants to design dresses. She has a horrible cab ride to her dorm room with a potential stalker of a cab driver speaking oddly to her. Then, her roommates are partying too hard which leads her to seek an apartment of her own in order to find some peace of mind.

She somehow is able to afford giving her landlady Mrs. Collins (Diana Rigg in a majestic final performance) a lot of money to move into her own place and that’s where the movie starts to pick up some real steam. It is made known that Eloise is “into” the 1960’s and that’s putting it mildly. She hysterically packs a bunch of old records with her socks in a suitcase when she prepares to leave for college. Eloise is simply obsessed with the decade.

Now, the movie really gets going as it introduces Sandie, a blonde-haired young girl who gives off 1960’s vibes. This film has scenes that show Sandie in the mirror when Eloise walks into a fancy club. Sandie is a “reflection” of Eloise for some odd reason which will be made known to the audience later on. Sandie can dance like nobody’s watching and possesses a radiance that simply cannot be duplicated. Watching this performance by Taylor-Joy is like viewing one of the great roles from classic late 1950’s films with movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe.

There is much more that happens in this movie as the plot progresses. I’ve already given more plot away than I feel is necessary given all the surprise elements of the movie. There are some problems with the film which include the character of John (played by Michael Ajao). John is a student who takes a liking to Eloise and there are some interesting scenes between the two performers but there is little chemistry between them. There is a scene where Eloise invites him back to her apartment even though her landlady has warned her that there is to be no male visitors after dark. This scene is not well rendered and throws the film off track a bit.

Another problem is the underuse of the great character actor Terence Stamp who isn’t even given a name in the credits. He is simply referred to as “Silver Haired Gentleman” which is rather odd given that his character is an integral part of the plot but if you know the twists of the film, you may understand why is referred to that way. Matt Smith as a mysterious male “manager” who works at the nightclub featured in the film is OK but his role only works successfully in spurts.

Let’s talk about McKenzie for a moment who plays the lead role in the film. She has always been phenomenal in her past roles but she struggles a bit here in the ending scenes of the film. While she masterfully plays her part in the early scenes, it seems as if her character’s descent into possible madness does a number on the performance because McKenzie underplays some of her important scenes in the latter part of the movie. Examine a moment in the film where Eloise asks her landlady for her deposit back or before that, a scene where she goes to the authorities to report her assertions about what she thinks is going on. McKenzie isn’t completely working to her ability in those scenes but still, one can’t fault her for that if it was the intention of Wright for her to do that. Maybe her character had become so worn down that the energy was supposed to be underplayed in those scenes. I prefer McKenzie’s early scenes to her late ones in the movie, however.

This film ultimately feels like a roller coaster ride of terror that scares you while you’re watching it due to its ghastly images towards the end. There was probably some work to do on the writing of the plot to make it a slightly better film but it’s still a really good movie. Anya Taylor-Joy is a true movie star and her scenes here elevate the material to such levels that this could become a midnight movie classic one day for her role alone. I could imagine people dressing up like her for future Halloweens. She’s all elegance and sophistication and one feels for her character in the movie who should have strived for more than what she was given.

Last Night In Soho is well made and director Edgar Wright maintains enough genuine interest here to make this movie work really well as a thriller. There were a lot of things I expected to happen that never did and, also, a lot of things I never expected to happen that actually did happen. Not every choice Wright makes is perfect but the casting of Anya Taylor-Joy in this project was simply a stroke of pure genius. She’s the primary reason to rush out and see this film.

Rating: 8/10

Leave your thoughts on this Last Night In Soho review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Flipboard.