Has Edgar Wright gone off the deep end? We loved 2017's "Baby Driver" so much that we went to the theater to see it twice. We rhapsodized about its "dazzle of visual and aural delights." It was a challenge to the senses, but it was never an all-out assault on the senses, which we experienced watching "Last Night in Soho," a blistering attack of images and sounds with barely a narrative to justify its experience.
An hour into this obnoxious screamer about a Woman in Peril, we leaned over to a friend to gauge her opinion, and she was willing to hang in there. Before the 90-minute mark -- when the horror tropes really kicked in -- we both were ready to leave. As Wright likes to do, he bombards the soundtrack with period songs, in this case from the late '60s, the time traveled to by Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie from "Leave No Trace"), an aspiring fashion designer experiencing London for the first time. During her time travel after she falls asleep each night, she lands in 1967 Soho and sees the mirrored reflection of a big-eyed blonde (Anya Taylor-Joy) and then sort of trades places with her, learning vicariously of the horrors of "Sandy" being forced into prostitution.
Wright has become a master of quick-cut jump scares and dazzling visual tricks involving the mirrored images of the two different actresses. And in once scene, Handsome Guy (Matt Smith) twirls them on the dance floor as their likenesses keep alternating with each swing on the beat. But those devices grow old quite quickly. And soon this settles into yet another literal assault on a young woman desperate to survive. Eloise has a family history of mental illness, with suicide claiming her mother, whose image appears to Eloise in, yep, mirrors. As the routine gets repeated every night during her sleep, Eloise gets further drawn into the degradation, including being hounded by zombie ghosts of Sandy's former sex clients. I started to shut down halfway through, because the story was going nowhere (I later learned there's a twist at the end; ho-hum) and the visual and aural onslaught was unbearable amid all the horror trash. I didn't even make it to the best line in the film (it's in the trailer): When Eloise confronts Creepy Old Guy (Terence Stamp) by saying she knows what he's done, he replies, "I've done a lot of things. You're gonna have to be more specific, luv."
Wright earlier this year over-indulged in a documentary about a cult band, and it seems that he is now editor-proof. Alas, everyone needs an editor, especially when a bloke's having a wank like this. Let's hope he recalibrates soon.
Title: LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
Running Time: 116 MIN
Elapsed Time at Plug Pull: 85 MIN (I was ready to go after an hour)
Portion Watched: 73%
My Age at Time of Viewing: 59 YRS, 1 MO.
Average Male American Lifespan: 78.8 YRS.
Watched/Did Instead: Went home, did a crossword puzzle and fell asleep.
Odds of Re-viewing This Title: 8-1
BONUS TRACKS
One highlight of the engaging soundtrack is "You're My World," as belted out by Cilla Black, with the Hitchcockian opening chirps a nice touch:
And Taylor-Joy gets her Julee Cruise on with a wispy version of Petula Clark's "Downtown":
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