How would you like to channel the 1960s? Relive the fashion, the passion, the … irration all from the pleasure of your own flat in your own little neighborhood. It’s like being an ambulatory medium. Having a crystal ball with a mileage meter. Or heck, maybe this is that “ghosting” all the kids are talking about. Can you “ghost” a decade, like experience it without being there? Hard to say.
Putting the “hep cat” in hep catastrophe, Last Night in Soho grooved to a funky horror beat. The film is set (often) in the 1960s, and yet the vibe is all new as writer/director Edgar Wright summoned a semi-unique way to scare audiences: have a modern girl become a “ghost” of sorts channeling a tragic past through the body of her ultimate desire.
You’d never know Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) was born this century. Everything about her, from her phonograph to her decorations to her wardrobe, strikes one as from a different era. Even Eloise’s personal 1960s playlists contrasts the obviously modern headgear she uses to listen to it. So when she goes to modern-day London to study fashion, she’s immediately on the outs with her peers. They aren’t as into the 1960s as Eloise is and it’s simply a matter of time until Eloise seeks alternative living arrangements.
This is the “be careful what you ask for” part. After finding a flat that is both near to school yet worlds away at the same time, Eloise starts having visions. In a half-dream, half-awake state, Eloise seems to channel the life of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a starlet wannabe living in the same flat in 1965 Soho. Wherever Sandie goes, Eloise appears as her reflection in the mirror and we the audience get the idea that Eloise is not only living as 1960s Sandie, but is also living out her deepest fantasy, the one where she is as bold as Sandie and not afraid to put her personality and skillset on the line to achieve.
Be careful what you ask for. Oh, yeah, this is a horror film. When you’re sexually desirable and have more nerve than support, life can get ugly fast. Watching Matt Smith turn into a pimp before my eyes was quite a revelation. Sure, the man has had a fairly deep career, but to me he’ll always be nerdy “Dr. Who.”
There are a number of things I love about Last Night in Soho. Some are subtle; some are not. One is the special effects in which 1960s Sandie is always mirrored (like literally) by modern day Eloise. This is a great effect in that we not only see how Eloise lives vicariously through the bolder Sandie, but we also get Eloise’s reactions; in this way, Eloise acts as a conscience of sorts for Sandie as the 
latter is often too in-over-her-head to deliver the proper reaction in the proper place at the proper time.
Another thing I absolutely adored about the film was the 1960s-fying of the soundtrack. Songs like “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You”, “The Land of 1,000 Dances”, and “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” have been re-written for period-specific cabarets or orchestras. You would never know these songs were anachronisms if you had no grasp of music history. It’s all very well done.
Last Night in Soho is one of the fascinating watches of 2021. It bogs a little in the nightmare/daymare realm when Eloise just can’t seem to get her act together without being attacked by ghosts. Yet, this is particularly well-imagined movie and one that will keep your attention throughout. Would I rather see this or Dune again? Soho ten times over, no question. I don’t even have to consider it.
There once was a girl named Sandie
Who attracted many men full of randy
Though her fate is unknown
Eloise has been shown
Not everything in this past was jim-dandy
Rated R, 116 Minutes
Director: Edgar Wright
Writer: Edgar Wright, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Genre: A star is re-born? Un-born? Un-dead?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Undead groovesters
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who cannot handle the 1960s
