agmtw logo
search
Last Night in Soho (2021)

Last Night in Soho (2021)

A Studio Ghibli plot dressed like a vintage horror film

7.5

Movie

United Kingdom, United States of America
English
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
2021
EDGAR WRIGHT
Aimée Cassettari, Al Roberts, Alan Ruscoe
116 min

TLDR

This is more an Anya Taylor-Joy movie than an effective horror movie.

What it's about

A fashion design student tries to live independently in London for her studies. However, the apartment she’s living in brings her apparitions that get increasingly more detailed and real each passing night.

The take

In Last Night in Soho, director Edgar Wright has so much to play with. The old lady character serves an unexpected role, while Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie) faces an interesting morality crisis as she tries to decide who to help at the end of the film. Just as fascinating is the film’s Ghibli-esque premise: we follow a hero going on an adventure far away from home and into a world where it's unclear where reality ends and fantasy begins. However, a lot of the time, it feels like the film was made to serve a big twist that doesn't have enough weight to it. The fantasy is far more intriguing than any tame interaction the film has to offer, so it doesn't feel like it lives up to its potential. But there is one obvious exception: Anya Taylor-Joy’s magnetic presence as Sandie—it’s a presence powerful enough to hold a film together.

What stands out

They turned a smoke detector off in the first 10 minutes, and a completely different building burns down in the last 10 minutes. Cool touch.

Comments

Add a comment

Your name

Your comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Once Were Warriors (1994)

A Maori family survives in an alienating Auckland in this raw, tragic drama

8.0

Silenced (2011)

A brutal and harrowing exposé of the schoolwide abuse case that sparked outrage in Korea

9.0

My King (2015)

A lover heals her knee and her heart in this contemplative drama about co-dependency

7.0

The Substance (2024)

Demi Moore swaps bodies in this standout chaotic body dysmorphia horror

8.3

Being Julia (2004)

A middle age crisis leads to a star finding her spark in this insightful comedy

7.1

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)

A gangster’s son finds a new way of living in this intense, piano-playing neo-noir

7.6

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

His Three Daughters (2024)

Three sisters deal with life and death in this moving family portrait

8.2

Emilia Pérez (2024)

Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez return to their roots in this multinational crime musical drama

7.5

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.