Is Last Night in Soho a Good Ghost Story?

First Impressions Of the Film

Last Night in Soho is a beautifully filmed project with an impeccable music lineup and taste. It’s the sort of film made for 20-somethings who grumble about how they were born in the wrong era and long for the height of 40s, 50s, and 60s pop culture that they find pleasant to adapt into their own current life.

Last Night in Soho takes the trope of the bright-eyed country girl wanting to make it big in the city, and her own life is paralleled to that of another young woman from the 1960s also wanting to make it big as a singer on the stage.

After a few pleasant and fevered dreams loving life as a glamourous and confident young woman in 1960’s London, the charm of it all begins to weather and break when our leading lady experiences harsh realities of 1960’s sex trafficking, alcohol, and possibly drugs happening to the once vibrant and lovely young girl who came to the city to make it big.

The film was a trip, and there are scenes that really break your heart. Real-world horrors and they’re expressed so well on film.

Budget and Monetary Performance

Last Night in Soho was produced by Focus Features. Who are well known to do slightly experimental films. While the budget is unknown at the time of this publication. Its box office returns had a decent $19.5 million.

Although other film critics didn't exactly love it. Roger Ebert gave it low ratings and didn't feel it creatively communicated what it was trying to say very well. Despite that, general everyday popcorn goers gave it a fresh %75 on Rotten tomatoes.

Genuinely I can agree on both sides. There were things about this film that were beautiful, and others I left the theater scratching my head over, and not in a good way.

The Director

Last Night in Soho (2021) was directed by Edgar Wright. Edgar is mostly known for prior works like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010), Baby Driver (2017), and Shaun of the Dead (2004).

This director is gifted at comedic timing, and playing with unusual visual cinematography (Honestly, even just watching Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010) for the visuals alone is mindblowing how well they catered to fans of the original comic.)

But as I’ve said before Comedy and Horror are two sides of the same coin. Both require a very specific stretch of tension in order to receive the payoff (Laugher or a jump out of your seat.) And while Edgar is great for comedy, I don’t feel that many jumpscares occurred in Last Night in Soho (2021) for his directorial taste.

Does he lean into experimental cinematography in this mind thriller? Yes! Absolutely. There are entire shots that really make you smile because it has such a dreamlike quality to them.

I also have this recurring time travel fantasy. The idea of going back to a decade, a time I didn’t previously experience. I guess for a long time, the idea of going back to the 60’s is an exciting prospect, but it's always tempered with this nagging feeling that You just want to experience the good things about the 60’s. And of course, not everything was good about the 60’s.

-Edgar Wright, 2021

Considering the screenplay was also penned by Edgar with support from Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917 Film released in 2019). It’s no wonder that much of the content within the script feels relatively supported. But it’s not to say this film doesn’t have some glaring holes in it. I liked it, I really did, but I did have to do some mental gymnastics to justify how the ending played out.

The Producers

This is a film that has FOUR Producers and FOUR MORE Executive Producers. (Talk about a ton of head cooks in one kitchen.) But miraculously, this film turned out alright despite how many hands were on the helm.

One Executive Producer also happened to be Edgar Wright. In addition, there was Eric Fellner (Les Miserables (2012)), Ollie Madden (Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, (2011)), Nira Park (Hot Fuzz (2007), Baby Driver (2017)), Laura Richardson (Rebecca (2020), Baby Driver (2017)), Baby Driver (2017), Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)), Tim Bevan (Les Miserables (2012), Theory of Everything (2014)).

I gotta say, It sounds like Edgar Wright has a crew he definitely trusts and has worked with on projects for over 10 years now. But none of the above list of producers strike me as vets of the Hollywood Horror genre.

If anything they’re either heavily in the Oscar nomination area, Action-adventure, or slapstick funny that Edgar Wright has been known for up through this point. So going to see a mind thriller marketed as horror was interesting to me.

The Cast of Last Night in Soho 2021

Anya Taylor Joy

Lets talk about Anya Taylor Joy, who plays our 1960’s Sandie. She’s made her acting bread and butter via the Horror genre with films like The Witch 2015, her third film. M Knight Shyamalans Split (2016), and Glass (2019).

She’s also transitioned her career to more serious drama projects like Peaky Blinders (2013-Present), and The Queens Gambit (2020).

Anya Taylor Joy has become a Hollywood A-list star in as little as five years of acting wherein producers are confident to give her top billing as her name is a draw for audiences. Personally, I do like her, I think that she has an ability to play the demure or beaten down soul like in Split, and in Last Night in Soho (2021), she exhibits the opposite as a confident young and wild girl that lives for big-city culture.

Thomasin McKenzie

Our other leading lady who takes on the majority of the film is Thomasin McKenzie.Thomasin plays our modern-day Eloise who wants to study to be a fashion designer in London's South Hamptons (Soho) when receiving a school scholarship.

Thomasin has been acting since 2012, and there are a handful of projects she’s participated in that I have personally experienced. The largest being Taika Waititi’s Jo Jo Rabbit (2019). This film is about a little boy in the 1930’s who wants to grow up to be a Nazi, he confides in his imaginary best friend who manifests as a playful Hitler while struggling with the fact that his mother hid a Jewish girl in their house as they slowly become friends…. Just trust me… this is an AMAZING film. I explained it badly, but now you just have to go watch it if you haven’t already.

Thomasin has also picked up her own M. Knight Shyamalan credit with his recent Old (2021).

Thomasin is lovely to watch in this film and you really feel empathy for her as she goes through the horrific roller coaster of wanting to protect someone from the past and realizing slowly she can't.

Matt Smith

The bad boy everyone loves to hate is played by Matt Smith. His smarmy character Jack quickly devolves from a charming romantic type to that of an aggressive and abusive pimp. His commanding acting presence really communicates how young girls like this could possibly be sucked into someone's world like his through utmost intimidation and deception.

Matt Smith is most likely known as one of the more popular Dr’s in the “Dr Who” television series. I believe the common argument is asking whether it's David Tennant or Matt Smith as who is the better Doctor?

Matt Smith has also starred in popular television series like The Crown (2016-Present).

Diana Rigg

This film would also be the last film for Diana Rigg, who passed away on September 20, 2020.

Diana who has a relatively small role in the film is a seasoned actress who has been acting since the 1960s. More recent audiences would know her from Game of Thrones as Olenna Tyrell.

However, others who remember her earlier works for Masterpiece Theater in Bleak House (1985), and even her own TV show in 1973 called Diana.

Diana Rigg plays the quiet landlady, Ms.Collins, in Last Night in Soho.

Cinematography

Chung-hoon Chung

The resident cinematographer is Chung-hoon Chung. After noticing his work on Last Night in Soho, I'm very much looking forward to the fact that he’ll be the cinematographer for the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series on Disney Plus (Which at the time of this article hasn’t been released yet.)

He’s also the cinematographer for the comedy Zombieland: Double Tap (2019). And the cinematographer for the blockbuster hit IT (2017), one of the more successful Stephen King Book adaptations.

The Music

Let's also talk about the music in this film. Holy mama…. This film is a compilation of some of the most iconic music that really does transport one to the era. Not Kitch 60’s, but REAL 1960’s. Real beats that play casually and aren’t just crowd-pleasers. Edgar Wright even said much of his inspiration about Last Night in Soho derived from music.

Songs are what really drive the writing process for me. Because, much like in the film, Eloise uses the music as a time travel machine essentially.

Edgar Wright: 2021

Last Night in Soho Ending Explained

Our main character Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is a girl who can sense “spirituality”. The rules and boundaries around that are unclear. So I’ll do my best to piece together what I understand about the mystery and lore that Edgar Wright may have been trying to communicate through his medium of film. But below are my theories on the rules of the universe inside of “Last Night in Soho”.

1. Eloise is able to see her mother in the mirror at the beginning of the film. This indicates mirrors are portals to the spiritual side as a way of scrying, but Eloise doesn’t need to invoke anything spirits can interact with her attention by just being present in a reflection even in broad daylight.
2. Vise Versa: Eloise experiencing the past through reflections and the windows of Sandie's eyes. Eloise from the future is traveling to the past via reflection to witness painful memories of many.
3. Eloise is not embodying Sandie in her body when she experiences the past, Eloise is not a participant, she is a passenger to events that will never change.
4. Mirrors have no concept of time in this film, but act as the weakest barrier between worlds; Living, Dead, and echoes of memories.
5. Eloise only experiences the past when asleep, but only asleep in the bedsit home where all the horrible memories are centralized for Sandie and the dozens of men she was pimped out to.
6. Eloise becomes more susceptible to spirits during the day, as her lack of sleep wanes.
7. Many of the memories that Eloise witnessed, while through Sandie's eyes, are actually Memories of the men who interacted with Sandie, and eventually Sandie killed them like a black widow. All of them were dead and buried beneath the floorboards of Eloise’s bedsit bedroom.

The end of the film culminates in Eloise discovering that her landlady, Ms.Collins is in fact Sandie from her dreams as an old woman. Eloise finds that the murder of Sandie she believed she witnessed is metaphorical to Sandie, but that Sandie has violently killed many men she was meant to take to bed. Once dead, she stuffed their bodies into the floorboards of this very bedroom.

Eloise unfortunately is drugged by Ms.Collins before she understands the full picture and slightly escapes before Ms.Collins can stab her to death. A fire breaks out into the home and the spirits of the men ask Eloise to avenge them and kill Ms.Collins. Eloise refuses the men and takes pity on Ms.Collins begging her to leave the house before the fire becomes too much. Ms.Collins tells her no and stays sitting on the bed while the ghostly spirits of the men perish.

Super Plot Holes

If the memories we saw are of the dead men’s moments with Sandie, then how did a projection of Jack Sitting atop Sandie to stab her to death come up? The reality was Sandie did that to Jack instead. Saying that Sandie the girl was “killed” metaphorically because of Jack pimping out her youth is a bit of a stretch to showing a gratuitously violent scene. It doesn’t really gel with the film even if it’s trying to force the message of the film.

All the memories cannot be of just the dead men. There is one memory that Eloise witnesses in particular that has neither person is dead when we see the memory. It’s the memory of the Detective talking to young Sandie. He was investigating her for the murder of the missing men. But…. There’s no way for Eloise to see that scene as both the Detective and Sandie grew old.

When are the dead men spirits allowed to be physical to grab at Eloise? There is not exactly a lot of consistency about it.

Last Night in Soho Themes

Not everyone deserves vengeance

Last Night in Soho 2021 is both sides of the fence for me. Its beautiful cinematography and stellar cast cannot exactly carry the supernatural holes that Edgar wrote into the script for the sake of moving the plot forward. That’s my honest assessment there.

But it also did try to tackle some interesting themes that I hadn’t considered before. One of which was when ghosts feel they are in need of vengeance do they actually deserve it? When the ghosts of the men that Sandie killed are begging Eloise for her help to kill the grandma-aged Sandie, she tells them “No” outright.

These are men who in life believed they were untouchable and walked into a woman's room with the intent to leave her like a used tissue. Did they deserve vengeance because their lives were taken from them? It’s a very complicated question. In the service of an eye for an eye, sure... The lady who killed must be killed.

But was her mental health in a state wherein she believed she was doing the right thing to remove predators from existence? Self-acting-vigilantism isn’t condoned in modern society, but perhaps (while correct or incorrect) Young Sandie very possibly believed their death was retribution enough for what they did to her first in an endless abusive cycle.

Human Trafficking Can Swallow the Innocent Whole

The other theme is that of human trafficking for the sake of attention in the entertainment industry. How easy it is to manipulate others when they’re told that in order to get ahead you must work hard, but the “work” issued doesn’t have appropriate boundaries. This was HUGELY evident during the 2017 #metoo movement in which 1 in 4 American women experienced sexual harassment at some point in their lives.

It rooted out and exposed many people who deserved to be exposed for the horrific abuses they foisted on women in Hollywood, or in the corporate workplace. This film does play a tune to that, but I do sadly think they missed the mark on giving a meaningful message around it.

Yes, Eloise of modern-day is able to then go forward in her successes as an independent woman in the fashion industry as a designer… but I'll be honest it feels a touch unearned in the arc of the film, and almost feels tacked on to say “See? The pain of the past can be learned from and we grow together!” But… I think I need to remind everyone that Eloise accused an old man of being an abuser and basically pushed him in front of a cab. I don’t know how she could feel absolved of that outside of movie magic.