The Mosley Review: Last Night in Soho

I love it when a filmmaker decides to step out of the comfort zone and tries something their not known for. It shows that they haven't become complacent and are still yearning to explore their craft. Sometimes when the filmmaker steps into a new avenue, you can see the ambition on the screen but somewhere along the pages of the screenplay, a few ideas were not fully fleshed out and leave you puzzled by certain decisions. That's what I thought towards the mid section of this film. I love the psychological horror genre and all the ways that a story could be told in the genre and this film takes full advantage of the visual aspects. I loved that it was sort of a time travel story mixed with elements of the supernatural, but the story of a talented individual being used by a hierarchy has been done to death I'm afraid. What made this take on the familiar story arc is not only the visuals, but the constant mysterious miss directs and sometimes blatant showing of all your cards. I liked that there were many avenues the story could've obviously gone, but I wish that one idea did get explored more. It can be left up to your interpretation and I think that was a negative. For as much as this film isn't subtle, there is 1 element that should've had a definitive answer instead of stringing you along.

Thomasin McKenzie delivers another knock out performance and as Eloise "Ellie" Turner, she was so much fun to watch. The evolution of the character from a sheepish dreamer who's trying to find her place in the big city to a sort of supernatural detective was fun and sometimes maddening. There are some truly quick decisions made with her and sometimes no consequences. The depiction of Ellie's mental torment and the fright in her eyes was truly astounding. Anya Tayor-Joy was goddess like as the young 1960's singer Sadie. She was confident, demanding and carried almost every scene she was in. Ellie idolizes her and I loved seeing how their lives truly started to mimic one another and sometimes intersect. The eventual downward spiral of Sadie was excellently portrayed and expertly shot. Terrance Stamp was excellent and sometimes creepy as the older version of Jack. Matt Smith plays the younger version of him and both are excellent. Matt's portrayal shows the darker and more ruthless side of the character. Diana Rigg delivers an outstanding final performance as Ms. Collins. She was sweet, charming, funny and I liked her story.

The score by Steven Price was excellent and brought to life the wonder of present day London and the terror of Ellie's visions. The soundtrack is always a character in an Edgar Wright film and this was no different. The swinging 60's is alive with all of the groovy tunes of the era and they’re perfectly placed in the celebratory spots and even the more violent moments. Visually this film is stunning and I loved the visions and how creepy they were. There is a dance scene that is amazingly choreographed and shot in a very slick single take. Aside from all the flare, the meat of the story was fun to explore, but I felt that it was of 2 hemispheres. 1 side was a full on supernatural murder mystery story and the other was a coming of identity story. Unfortunately, not all of it mixes together and the story loses focus. If there was one clear direction and definitive answer for the things happening in the film, then it would've made more sense of why Ellie is seeing these visions. I have my own answer for it and I don't want to taint your experience, but you'll see what I mean when the question arises. This was another solid film from Writer / Director Edgar Wright that has his eyes and ears for style, but its indecisive choices keep it from being in his top tier of films. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!