Last Night in Soho , will take viewers into the nightlife of London, England in the 1960s – complete with the accompaniment of a number of popular songs from the era that have become the hallmark of films. Wright's work so far. However, the journey to the 1960s is traversed through the timeline, set in an era where Kylie Jenner was better known than Kylie Minogue when a young girl aspiring to become a fashion designer, Eloise Turner ( Thomasin McKenzie ), was brought by her dreamland to 1960s and lives life as a young girl named Sandie ( Anya Taylor-Joy) who aspires to become a famous singer. At first, the dream seemed like a beautiful journey. With his talent, Sandie was successfully recruited to become a singer in a famous nightclub in the city of London. Sandie's beauty and fashion style also inspired Eloise Turner in the line of clothes she designed. Unfortunately, when the dream tells about Sandie's career which ended in a betrayal, Eloise Turner's life also slowly encounters many problems.
Horror is definitely not a completely new storytelling color for Wright. The name of the British director has even received global recognition for the first time thanks to the success of his comedy horror film, Shaun of the Dead (2004). But, of course, Last Night in Soho marked the first time Wright worked on a full horror story. The script for the film, which Wright worked on together with Krysty Wilson-Cairns ( 1917 , 2019) seemed to take advantage of the influence of horror storytelling that came from films such as Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965), Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977), to Black Swan.(Darren Aronofsky, 2010) who moves carefully to plug his psychological horror terror before finally presenting a touch of horror with a more vulgar visual appearance. Pretty successful.
The early minutes of the narrative of Last Night in Sohowhich is presented in a light, bright, and colorful story atmosphere that slowly gets a darker storyline along with the unfolding of a number of layers of stories and mysteries given to the two main characters of this film. At the same time, the focus of the story that continues to be divided between the characters of Eloise Turner and Sandie often makes the story appearance for one character more interesting compared to the story for another character. With a line of mystery stories, supporting characters, and brilliant performances presented by Taylor-Joy, it's hard not to feel that the story given to Eloise Turner's character and set in modern storytelling time appears to be a distraction for the whole story of Sandie's character.
Wright and Wilson-Cairns' mystery storytelling pattern for Last Night in Soho also tends to appear monotonous and repetitive since the second half of the story. This then makes the final half of the film's story where Eloise Turner's character finally gets clarity about Sandie's character who has been haunting her life but failed to be present more gripping. Wright and Wilson-Cairns have indeed tried to provide a number of supporting story plots through the presence of characters such as Lindsay ( Terence Stamp ), Jocasta ( Synnøve Karlsen ), or John ( Michael Ajao).).
Even so, it's hard not to be amazed or carried away by the vision of storytelling that Wright presents in this film. Wright may have been known by many film lovers around the world as one of the directors who has a strong talent in combining production design, visual arrangement and cinematography, as well as the energy support given by popular songs to support the story he is building. Through Last Night in Soho , Wright's directing ability is getting sharper. Solid performance support from Taylor-Joy, McKenzie, and Matt Smithalso produces many moments that will not be easily forgotten by the memory of the audience. Unfortunately a number of weaknesses in the management of the story and characters then prevent this film from achieving its best horror story potential. Still impressive, but won't imprint too deep.
