Last Night in Soho

Mulholland Drive - Straße der Finsternis für Kinder. Die magische Anna, eine schöne Retro-Stilisierung, die Kamera und der Schnitt sind ausgefeilt. Spannung und Grauen würde man hier aber vergeblich suchen. (14.11.2021)

Edgar Wright has made more evenly balanced films than Last Night in Soho, in which Thomasin McKenzie awakens from a nostalgic daydream of 1960s London to a nightmare of disillusion. At any rate, his musical stab at post-#MeToo horror is highly entertaining and original. In fact, it is more original than you would expect from a genre movie that is so enchanted by other genres and undergoes a transformation according to which genre Wright is referencing at the given moment. That transformation is always complete. The stylisation changes along with the heroine’s motivation, goal and place in the narrative. A comedic fish-out-of-water drama in a university setting first becomes an observational movie of someone’s glittering life in swinging London and then an amateur (giallo) detective flick that continually slips into a ghost/zombie/splatter horror movie or a claustrophobic psycho-thriller along the lines of Polanski’s Repulsion. Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns managed to incorporate into the story a warning against idealising the past (or rather the attempt to interpret it according to today’s values) somewhat more elegantly than the motif of trauma imprinted on bodies and places. However, I definitely do not think that, with respect to its bold stylisation, the film stigmatises mental illness and sex work, as some foreign reviews accuse it of doing. It is a stylish genre mishmash. It may not work perfectly, but I enjoyed it from the opening to the closing credits. 80%. (02.11.2021)

I'm pretty pleased with Wright's new film, though it does take a weird nosedive during the ride to the finale and struggles to not completely fall apart at the end. At the same time, the acting is brilliant, the sets are great, the direction is imaginative, the soundtrack is polished and the cast is amazing, especially Thomasin McKenzie, who I find to be one of the cutest and most likeable heroines in horror in a long time. The script throws up a number of themes and you wait to see what will come out of them... only to find that many turn out to be nothing. The ending itself makes it seem as if a number of minutes were cut before it, or as if the director and everyone on set suddenly stopped having fun. But I don't want to sound too negative, because I definitely don't have a negative feeling about this film. On the contrary, I was more satisfied than I expected for most of the runtime, and I'm just a little disappointed that the finale didn't go as far as it looked like it might at one point. (04.11.2021)

I like Edgar Wright, but the more serious he gets, the more I have a problem with it. So I'll always prefer Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz to the shallow and over-stylized Baby Driver. And now over Last Night in Soho. His new release reminded me of Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, a horror film that was great in every way, audiovisually and genre-wise. Only that with this one, I felt like the director was fulfilling a dream of his, paying homage to a favorite genre, a favorite era, and a favorite form. And does it brilliantly, as if he had made the whole thing for himself rather than anyone else. On the other hand, Wright's play with color, the great soundtrack, the gorgeous costumes, and his typical audiovisual games from time to time still work great. And Thomasin McKenzie is excellent, with Anya Taylor-Joy not far from her, but it's not enough. With Last Night in Soho Wright makes mostly himself happy, which I wish him well, but I won't applaud him for it. (03.11.2021)

One sort of expects form over substance from Wright, especially in a film that wets both feet in the waters of Giallo, Lynch and the 1960s. Maybe I wouldn't have expected such a big split between the exquisite form and the empty content, but whatever. The hauntingly enchanting hallucinatory atmosphere makes up for a lot of it, likewise with Wright in some places of the first half, which although it's not without its hiccups, it definitely has something (and especially someone) to build on. Unfortunately, though, Wright decided to start grafting some content in the second half and ruined everything, especially during the final 20 minutes, which are unintentionally ridiculous. What is most fascinating about the whole shattering finale is that even the otherwise top-notch form betrays him during it. (03.11.2021)

This is London, where someone has died in every room of every building and on every street corner of the city. I like Edgar Wright very much, everything he does. Baby Driver, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim were no fluke and this retro mystery horror outing is very well done, in fact I'm surprised at how satisfied I am. There is a mix of genres throughout the film, but thankfully it all holds together and not once does it fall apart under the director's hands. It mixes drama, retro-crime, coming-of-age, dreamy fantasy, horror and mysterious psycho thriller. The whole thing relies on the excellent young actresses Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, my darling and who excels again. The horror elements are impressive, there are some pretty nasty scares as well as a few brutal scenes, so in that respect I'm satisfied. The retro soundtrack, atmosphere, engaging plot with a surprising climax, strong stylization and very well-written dialogue are also good. It's definitely not a pure horror film, but it's a good enough film in almost every respect, so I have nothing to complain about. Together with Malignant, the most outstanding mainstream genre film this year. Story 4/5, Action 3/5, Humour 1/5, Violence 3/5, Entertainment 4/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 5/5. 8.5/10. (22.11.2021)

Die süße McKenzie träumt oder dreht durch, die begehrenswerte Taylor-Joy tanzt oder tötet (uh oh!), die Kamera zaubert wunderschöne Bilder und spielt mit Farben, und der Soundtrack ergänzt perfekt die Retro-Stimmung des London der 60er Jahre, in dem es schwer ist, seine Unschuld zu bewahren und noch schwerer, zu überleben. Andererseits würde ich aus einer zweistündigen Laufzeit etwa 20 Minuten herausschneiden oder zumindest die Wahrheit besser verschleiern, denn der Haupttwist des Films wird vom Zuschauer schon eine gute halbe Stunde früher durchschaut, als es der Regisseur beabsichtigt hatte. (25.11.2021)

A thoroughly intoxicating experience that drew me in like few films manage to do. After 14 years, Edgar Wright has made a film that I have nothing to reproach, and above all, the way he made it is breathtaking. Amazing visuals to the rhythm of superbly chosen music, clouds of directorial ideas, a clever (perhaps just a little too literal at the end) screenplay and a fantastic cast, of which Anya Taylor-Joy stands out, but Thomasin McKenzie keeps on her heels with his transformation until he eventually is on par with her, and Matt Smith is, as always, a great choice. I look forward to experiencing it all again. (26.11.2021)

Edgar Wright drehte seine Antithese zur idealisierten Utopie des Films Once Upon a Time in Hollywood und schuf einen Film für all diejenigen mit dem Kopf in den Wolken, die gerne davon träumen, wie es in einer anderen ("besseren") Zeit für sie wäre. Doch jede Zeit hat Vor- und Nachteile. Last Night in Soho ist eher ein Horrorfilm für Fans einer einfallsreichen visuellen Darstellung und einer Anspielung auf vergangene Werke in Verbindung mit modernen Trends. Aber man hat keine Angst davor. Auf jeden Fall hat es mir ziemlich gut gefallen und es macht mir Spaß, es in meinem Kopf visuell wiederzugeben. (02.11.2021)

Last Night in Soho hat mich dank eines verlockenden Trailers und einer noch verlockenderen Besetzung ins Kino gelockt, so dass ich ziemlich aufgeregt in die Vorführung ging. Anfangs empfand ich den Film als mittelmäßigen Psychothriller über Wahnvorstellungen und Dämonen aus der Vergangenheit, aber dann nahm die Handlung Fahrt auf und die Spannung bestand nicht so sehr im Erschrecken, sondern in der Enträtselung des Geheimnisses, das aufgebaut worden war. Obwohl ich weiß, dass "der Gärtner der Mörder ist", haben es die Filmemacher geschafft, mich fast bis zum Ende im Dunkeln zu lassen, so dass ich beide Wendungen umso mehr genossen habe. Einmal mehr muss ich die präzise Besetzung loben, ebenso wie die visuelle Stilisierung der sechziger Jahre und die Darstellung der "Phantome". Daher gibt es keine reinen vier Sterne, aber in diesem Fall gebe ich einen mehr. (13.11.2021)

With Scott Pilgrim I considered it part of the game, with Baby Driver I couldn't put my finger on it, and with Last Night in Soho it started to get downright annoying. It's that musical staginess drenched in studio lights, its artificiality accelerated by a digital camera with a high frame rate. If it's worked so far in Wright's previous films, it's because they were kind of musicals in the first place, except that Last Night in Soho has its entire plot built on trying to evoke the spirit of the Swingin' London era, and in this case you can have a wardrobe full of period dresses and tons of period props strewn about the studio, but it's still a totally obvious crying game. Logically, then, what works is one great dance sequence and the amazing Thomasin McKenzie, what doesn't work is, eh, well... the rest of the film. And Matt Smith doesn’t know how to inhale. I appreciate the very original twist that the main monster is actually the patriarchy, which I saw six times in genre films last year alone. (09.02.2022)

Edgar Wright has moved on from geeky parodies and comic books to a paranoid thriller, notching up the first real "serious" notch in his feature film output (Baby Driver is also slightly serious, but...). Last Night in Soho, with its extremely impressive retro-atmosphere, is such an appealing blend of Mulholland Drive and Black Swan. Wright's mannerist directorial style elsewhere doesn't distract this time (and in fact often hangs back in the background), on the other hand the visual imagination is truly stunning and the two protagonists give the performance of a lifetime. And the contrast of the "bovine, innocent, and unblemished country girl" with the spectacular "evil" London as one of the main motifs kept me entertained. The only complaint I might have is the denouement itself, which doesn't feel 100% believable, but doesn't spoil the overall impression too much. An honest and visually damn good genre film. [80%] (19.11.2021)

Dieses Werk wird sicher nicht jedem gefallen, aber es verdient Aufmerksamkeit. Das Werk ist von hervorragender Qualität. Die Musik, die Kameraführung, die Schauspielerei und vor allem das 60er-Jahre-Flair sind wirklich gelungen und unterhaltsam. A. Taylor-Joy ist absolut bravourös, fast möchte ich sagen "mystisch", ihr Schauspielstil ist wie geschaffen für diese Ära. Was die Handlung betrifft, so hinkt diese stellenweise. Für meinen Geschmack gab es zu viele Spirituelles und ein zu süßes Happy End, aber ansonsten eine ordentliche Psycho-Atmosphäre. (20.11.2021)