‘When you’re alone and life is making you lonely…’: Happy 3rd birthday to the Edgar Wright movie everyone should watch!
Picking the right movie for spooky season is hard. You want to be afraid but you might not be into jump scares. So maybe you want a nice thriller to celebrate the Halloween season. Why not watch an Edgar Wright masterpiece on its 3rd anniversary?
Wright’s Last Night In Soho mixes a 60s mystery with Ellie’s (Thomasin McKenzie) modern life in London as a young fashion student. The twisted tale weaves Sandie’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) past with Ellie’s present. When Ellie has to leave her dorm in college because of her roommate Jocasta’s (Synnøve Karlsen) teasing, she ends up living with Ms. Collins (Diana Rigg).
Each night as she falls asleep, she is transported into what feels like a 1960s dream where Ellie gets to live as Sandie for the night. Sandie meeting Jack (Matt Smith) may feel like the ideal fantasy but it takes a dive into the dark. Part of what makes Last Night In Soho such an alluring watch is figuring out the mystery of Sandie along with Ellie.
Last Night In Soho, at times, feels like something completely new and fresh for Wright. Many know his work in comedies like Shaun of the Dead and the rest of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. Even Baby Driver had a hint of that comedic edge to it that we’ve come to know and love. But Last Night In Soho really leans into the horrors of Ellie’s London and brings a darkness to Wright’s filmography.
It is what makes the movie so captivating to me. Even when you know the ending, you still find something to unpack with each new watch. The story is one that just constantly intrigues me. Quickly Ellie’s journey as a young fashion student turns from a story of a girl trying to fit in to a ghost story.
A beautifully horrifying tale
Part of what makes me so obsessed with Last Night In Soho is the the look of it. Ellie’s love of the 60s and how she finds inspiration for her fashion there colors our view of the film as a whole. As someone who loves Audrey Hepburn and the 60s silhouette, I fell right into the trap of Ellie’s dream world just as she did.
That’s what makes this movie one that has stayed with me for the last three years. I love Wright’s work, have for quite some time. There are moments from Shaun of the Dead that I think about regularly and they’ve been a part of me since I saw the movie in 2004. But Last Night In Soho changed how I view one of my favorite filmmakers.
It showed me a side to Wright that I wasn’t expecting and I loved it. Wright wrote the screenplay alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns and they let the mystery that Ellie is discovering guide the entire movie. We are roped into its tale just as Ellie is and I just think it is masterful storytelling.
So to celebrate the film’s 3rd birthday, why not rewatch this Edgar Wright masterpiece and celebrate just how brilliant of a filmmaker he is?
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