Last Night in Soho--a piece of nostalgia still relevant

 

The past era is often romanticized. We are eager to assume that life was much simpler years ago when the economy was better, the cost of living was cheaper, and most people could afford houses. 

We are fascinated by the fashions of a bygone era, the music, the political climate, and eventually assume that people were much nicer back then. They weren’t trying to survive after all; they were living. 

Edgar Wright’s LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, which was released in 2021, literally pulls the wool out of our eyes. 

No, the past is not what you think it is. It was not all lights and glamor. Not everyone got to see their dreams come true. And the people? They were not as trustworthy as you thought.

In retrospect, when I first watched the movie, my reaction was dull. It wasn’t the horror movie I was expecting. I love the cast, which is why I even watched it in the first place. But it was different. It wasn’t the typical run-of-the-mill horror movie. No obvious villains and barely any ghosts. 

My initial rating was quite low compared to what I eventually posted after careful reflection. 

Despite my initial disappointment, I couldn’t get the movie out of my mind. The performances were impecaable of course, but that is not what stood out for me. It was the story and the way it was brought on screen. 

The story wasn’t only about Eloise’s gift of seeing the past and people from the past, nor was it about Sandie’s exploitation. It was more about how the past was far from simple than I imagined it to be. 

The way the story plays out is brilliant. We are thrust into the world of the 1960s, clubs and singers, and people coming into the city with starry eyes. 

Edgar Wright leaves no stone unturned as he thrusts us into the past along with Eloise. We are just as fascinated as Eloise is when she gets to experience the past. 

Then she meets Sandie and becomes heavily influenced by her. She wants her hairstyle and her clothes, and her life. 

Unless, of course, she learns the truth of why she is actually seeing “ghost” Sandie. Then she becomes disappointed at first, and then sympathetic. 

Sandie is like any other ambitious woman. She wants what she wants and will do whatever it takes to get there. She meets Jack and impresses him with her singing and dancing skills. Jack not only offers to be her manager but also begins dating her. 

Eloise’s fantasy is ruptured when she finds what Jack has done with Sandie. He has sold her off to his contacts so that she can earn him some money. 

Eloise is disgusted at first, but at the wrong person. How could Sandie do that? How could she allow herself to be taken advantage of? But another dream takes her further into the past and lets her become Sandie herself so she can experience what she did. The glamour that Eloise was smitten by has a very dark background. 

A lot of girls are exploited, forced to do things they don’t want to, begging to go home, but are trapped. The dream turns into a nightmare. 

And that is the true horror of LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, the transformation of a surreal place that dissolves into a cesspool of tears, abuse, and exploitation. 

Our fantasy has shattered along with Eloise’s.

The third act takes a slight pivot. Sandie may have given in to Jack’s demands, but she had always been strong-willed, even though for a short while she had almost given up. 

Spoiler Alert!

Sandie becomes a serial killer. She kills all those who exploited her. And…she had never been murdered. She was the murderer. 

But the twists don’t end there. Eloise’s landlady is Sandie. She is much older now. The reason Eloise had experienced dream-like visions was that Sandie’s anger and hurt had remained in this place, consuming her. 

Eventually, Sandie tries to kill Eloise for learning her past, accidentally sets the house on fire, and then tells Eloise to leave her to burn in the very place that Sandie had been taken advantage of, which led her to become a killer. 

That was really some twist and also a daring one. 

Which is why at first watch, I did not seem to enjoy it as much. It came out of nowhere, not really fitting into the story I thought was unfolding before me. I thought it was Eloise’s story at first. 

On my second watch, I realized it was Sandie’s. On my third watch, I felt like I had finally pinned it down to being a horror story about the past that isn’t as romantic as we expected it to be. 

Last Night in Soho has great performances, a story that will linger in your mind for days, and a soundtrack that is hauntingly beautiful. 

Edgar Wright has effectively managed to create not a movie but an experience that you will want to relive several times.