The horror/ thriller genre may not be a “new toy” for Edgar Wright because the director has dived into it in several previous works. However, in Last Night in Soho , the filmmaker who is already known to be good at this comedy is looking for a new toy in making a gripping terror without its flagship element. Regarding horror, Wright’s name is actually known through his second film, Shaun of the Dead (2004), which made his name shot.
Thriller was not a new realm for him. Hot Fuzz (2007), his follow-up work which also falls into this category, contains elements of slasher . In addition, just like its predecessors, the Pegg and Frost duet which is the mainstay is complemented by The World’s End (2013) which is the closing of the unconventional Cornetto trilogy .
However, Last Night in Soho can be categorized as a “new realm” for Wright. In his latest film, the British filmmaker explores psychological horror with a slightly slasher thriller .
One Side Very Experimental, On The Other Side Very Conventional This film is about Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie), a late teenage girl who has just been accepted into the fashion department in London. This acceptance seemed to be a dream come true for Ellie who had always dreamed of living in London and romanticizing the beauty of that city life. It was as if he lived in the 1960s. Reality says otherwise.
He also began having strange dreams when he was in the body of another woman who lived in the ’60s era. This initially offers a blur to Ellie’s predicament, but gradually gets darker as reality hits. In the early part of the film, Ellie’s character development is presented in a very conventional and often cheesy way.
Some things are too formulaic, like Ellie who comes from the village having a hard time living in the city; he is bullied by his new friends while accompanied by sad music. This may have been born of Wright’s love for classic B-class horror films and indeed the effort to stimulate it is very visible in the film.
In this endeavor, the filmmaker actually forgets his identity, trapped in a clichéd drama that he could actually fix if he continued to incorporate his satirical comedy style without being too comical. However, seeing and expecting Last Night in Soho as a conventional horror film would be a mistake for the audience.
This movie won’t surprise you with silly jumpscares or super-scary nuances. Wright seems to be trying to scare the audience, but invites us in an intense atmosphere that on the one hand seems to be drunk and flying to another world. Unlike Wright’s previous Baby Driver (2017), which uses music as the main structure of the film, Last Night in Soho does not.
Visual play is the key to the film, especially in the brilliant ending. The shooting is so crazy, uses a lot of techniques that risk inviting mistakes. However, his team managed to do it brilliantly: constantly using mirror reflections to show the two main characters in different sides until repeatedly using the texas switch .
The coloring also presents its own dualism, a lot of use of green-red colors that seem to be a sign of good-bad or more accurately referred to as “sanity and madness” in this film.
It is as if he is making an art film wrapped in blockbuster -style packaging .
If Last Night in Soho is seen as a message of love for classic B-class horror and 1960s London, there’s a point. This message of love sometimes traps Wright into adhering to his own romance. However, its insane packaging pushes us in the direction of very modern experimental horror. These two sides are so contradictory that it makes this film a bit jumbled up.
Source Link : https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=alta.thebatman-streaming-it-hd