IR Film Review: LAST NIGHT IN SOHO [Focus]
The essence of perception always builds in the ideas of what can be seen. The texture of "Last Night In Soho" can be a reflection of two truths but with both being paved in a necessity of their own existence. Both lives that the story follows can be misjudged or misaligned. The aspect of abuse versus the conjecture of mental illness is an interesting dichotomy but nevertheless both ring directly. Writer/Director Edgar Wright is playing with many diverse themes here. But like many of his movies (including the popular "Baby Driver"), the progression, though crescendoed, seems at many points slightly and, at times, overly insular. The reason "Scott Pilgrim" has always worked is not because it is set in a specific place and time but it is because it is of a mood. Wright plays with certain tropes here but there is a disconnect of disbelief that really prevents a connection. As the film is initially built, the reflection and borders between reality are really nicely done because it hints at a greater mythology but it ends up being a rhapsody on another note about isolation and mistrust. Thomasin McKenzie plays Eloise with an innocence but not enough force and yet she is well suited. The interesting thing is that she seemed like Abigail Breslin oddly enough from the trailer who would have also been a good match.
Her dance of sorts with Sandy (Anna Taylor Joy) is a path of destruction bathed in a love of the 60s. Wright does use this to the nth degree with the soundtrack (as he always does) especially in a initial audition scene with Joy performing "Downtown" but the movie only gets to a place of brilliance one or two times and even then it is almost in inopportune spots when a grander gesture would have worked better. Joy is decent but is laying almost a caricature of a perception which is the point but the interaction between Eloise and her ID is almost underplayed as the film goes on. Some interesting acting choices in both Diana Rigg (who died many months after shooting ended) and Terence Stamp show unconventional approaches that both pay and off and don't in certain dividends. Matt Smith as Frank is also a bit stilted but again it comes back to avenues of perception. "Last Night In Soho" doesn't quite live up to the blast of fire that the trailer played to. It also suffers from an uneven identity while trying many different things from coming of age drama to period piece to horror while not quite doing any of them to the right pitch. C
By Tim Wassberg
