Last Night in Soho

The next movie on my list was Last Night in Soho and I was very excited to see it last night as it was one of my most anticipated movies of the fall.  I ended up really enjoying this stylish and atmospheric thriller.  Eloise "Ellie" Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) is a young and impressionable girl from the English countryside who is obsessed with the movies, music, and fashion of the 1960s.  She dreams of becoming a fashion designer and travels to London to study but has trouble fitting in with with her roommate and the other girls in the dorm.  She rents a room in Soho from a Mrs. Collins (Diana Rigg) instead and this seems to be a portal to the 1960s.  Each night she encounters Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), an aspiring singer who once occupied her room in the past, and she experiences everything that happens to her.  At first Ellie is exhilarated and finds inspiration for her designs.  She even dyes her hair and buys vintage clothing in the present to mimic Sandie's style but this brings about the unwanted attention of a mysterious stranger (Terrence Stamp) who seems to recognize her.  When Sandie meets a dashing man named Jack (Matt Smith), who promises to help her with her singing career but actually becomes her pimp, Ellie is caught up in a dangerous lifestyle that follows her into the present.  Eventually, Ellie witnesses what she believes to be Sandie's murder by Jack in the past and becomes convinced that the mysterious stranger is really Jack in the present and tries to hold him accountable. McKenzie and Taylor-Joy are both outstanding and I also really enjoyed Rigg in her final role.  The camera work showing Ellie and Sandie seamlessly changing places in a dazzling dance sequence and mimicking each other as they descend a mirrored staircase is absolutely  brilliant.  I loved both the music, especially "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World" by Cilla Black, and the clothes from the 1960s (I might be as obsessed with the 1960s as Ellie is).  The exploration of how young women alone in a big city can be victimized is incredibly compelling and I found it interesting that both Ellie and Sandie experience the same type of harassment from men even though they are very different women in different time periods.  Finally, I actually enjoyed it when Ellie has difficulty distinguishing between the past and present in the third act because these scenes are very unsettling and they kept me guessing until the end.  This is a bit of a departure from Edgar Wright's other films (it features much darker themes than we usually get from the director) but I think his fans will recognize his distinct visual style and I recommend it.