LAST NIGHT IN SOHO. (2021) DIRECTED AND CO-PRODUCED BY EDGAR WRIGHT. STORY BY EDGAR WRIGHT.
STARRING THOMASIN MCKENZIE, ANYA TAYLOR-JOY, RITA TUSHINGHAM, TERENCE STAMP, PAULINE MCLYNN, DIANA RIGG AND MATT SMITH.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
The first hour of this time-travel fantasy psychological horror film, streaming now on Netflix, had me absolutely captivated in a way I wasn’t expecting. Even if the second hour disappointed slightly, it’s still a really good, psychedelic watch that I wouldn’t have missed for anything.
It’s about a young country girl called Eloise ‘Ellie’ Turner who adores fashion and is thrilled to bits when she is offered a place at the London College of Fashion. Her maternal grandmother, Peggy, with whom she lives, is delighted as well, even though she’ll miss her favourite grandchild when Ellie goes off to London.
What’s really neat and clever about this is that, back in 1972, Rita Tushingham, the actress who plays Granny Peggy, starred in a Hammer film called STRAIGHT ON TIL MORNING, in which she portrayed Brenda, a young woman who leaves her mum’s council house in Liverpool to go and live in Swinging London- is London still swinging in 1972? I think it is!- in order to find a man who’ll give her a baby.
London is like a new world to the naïve little homebody, and I love watching Brenda try to navigate its social niceties and whatnot. Plus, Peter, the bloke she eventually shacks up with, is just truly gorgeous and a vision in blonde hair and floppy shirts. He was played by the actor Shane Briant, famous for his parts in four Hammer movies, who sadly passed away in 2021.
Back to LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, and Granny Peggy is a tad concerned about Little Ellie going off to the Big Smoke on her own. Ellie is a ‘sensitive,’ you see, a sort of psychic who sometimes sees her dead mum in the mirror. Yikes…!
Ellie’s mum took her own life so you can’t really blame Granny Peggy for worrying about the feisty little Ellie’s mental health. If Peggy knew what Ellie’s going to be getting up to in the big city, she’d cough up her dentures and die of shock…
It’s important to say here that Ellie is obsessed with the music and fashion of the Swinging ‘Sixties. You know, Mary Quant and her fabulous mini-skirts, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the sexual revolution, the anti-nuclear movement?
Shopping in the King’s Road, Carnaby Street, Kensington? Being ‘groovy’ and ‘with it’ because you’re young and hip and laughing at anyone over thirty-five for being ‘past it…?’ And let’s not forget ‘avin’ a lorra lorra laughs with Cilla Black, the lady crooner with the belter of a voice.
And what about Radio Caroline, the Kinks and the Small Faces and the abolition of National Service for young men, who consequently now had a lot more time for spirited high jinks with liberated wimmins?
The Kray Twins and Barbara Windsor and Diana Dors and Dusty Springfield, Christine Keeler and the Profumo Affair? You got it, baby. Them’s the Swinging Sixties, and our girl Ellie is one of those peeps who wishes she’d been born into a different time and place, i.e., London in the Swinging ‘Sixties…
When Ellie settles herself into her new digs, rented from her ancient landlady, the mysterious Mrs. Collins, her sleep brings the strangest dreams. They bring her back to- guess where?- London in the- guess when?- ‘Swinging Sixties, where she witnesses a stunningly beautiful blonde girl called Sandie (played by Anya Taylor-Joy of THE WITCH fame in the sexiest little pink dress) audition for a singing job in one of the big clubs of the day.
Sandie has been promised by the handsome smooth-talking Londoner Jack that fame and fortune will be hers if she’ll only stick with him. Ellie, who is able to see and hear all of this through the magic of, well, magic, I think, and a little bit of foresight as well, is thrilled at first to be privy to a private glimpse into Sandie’s seemingly perfect life.
But Sandie’s dream life turns sour very, very quickly, and soon the traumatised Ellie is terrified of going to sleep in case the ghouls in Sandie’s life cross over into her own existence to terrorise and hurt her. Whoops, too late…!
The last half hour of the movie gets a bit messy, but overall, I absolutely bloody loved it and it made me think fondly of the Swinging Sixties myself, though I wasn’t actually born when they were at their Swingiest, lol. I’m more of a ‘Seventies chick anyway, with my penchant for world peace, free love and long-haired hippy types. Men, that is. Haha.
Irish actress Pauline McLynn (Mrs. Doyle from FATHER TED) is really good as the kind-hearted but no-nonsense landlady in the pub where little Ellie supposedly works, but in which, in reality, she hasn’t so much as pulled a single pint. Sack the lazy article, sack her, I say, sack that so-called barmaid!
Also, genuine ‘Sixties relic Terence Stamp, who dated actress Julie Christie and supermodel Jean Shrimpton and who once shared a house with Michael Caine in Wimpole Street in London, is here too as sleazy retired copper Lindsey, giving a nice authentic flavouring to the whole thing.
By the way, director Edgar Wright was responsible for making the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy of films, otherwise known as SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004), HOT FUZZ (2007) and WORLD’S END (2013), so LAST NIGHT IN SOHO must have been a bit of a change in direction for him. Anyway, that’s it, the film has my seal of approval, so over and out for now.
sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris 