dex14

Reviews from Venice: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_night_in_soho

dex14

dex14

Dolby Cinemas will start playing this on the 27th.

TomOpus

A friend saw this the other day. Said see it in a theater with a good sound system.

Perkinsun Dzees

Currently sitting at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes with 139 reviews (it does have a 94% audience score, though).

Looks like critic faves Edgar Wright and Chloe Zhao are both taking their critical lumps this week with the lowest rated films of their respective careers (maybe Wright was right after all to bail on that MCU movie).

I'm still going to see this in a theater, but my expectations are a bit lowered.

Perkinsun Dzees

The first half of this movie is extremely engaging, with a very ingratiating performance by Thomasin McKenzie as a young woman named Ellie who arrives in London to study fashion design and begins having strange visions of another young woman (Anya Taylor-Joy as Sandie) living in 1960s London, who also has aspirations to make it big only to have those dreams take a dark and twisted turn.

Wright directs with his usual assured visual style, frequently using mirrors and reflections in a showy manner in order to effectively convey how Ellie is experiencing everything that her 1960's counterpart is and beginning to identify with her. As the intensity of the plot increases, the saturated colors begin to pop in a Mario Bava/Dario Argento-ish manner. The writing is sufficiently witty, the pacing is crisp, and although the supporting players are just a bunch of stock characters who exist to push along Ellie's/Sandie's storylines, it all works very smoothly and smashingly. I was seriously beginning to wonder if this might be Wright's best movie to date.

Then we get to the 2nd half. For whatever reason, the writing takes a significant turn for the worse and McKenzie's performance goes so bug-eyed, over the top that she seems more like an escapee from a mental asylum. The plot simply falls back on too many giallo movie cliches and repetitive scare scenes, and the final twists are either predictable or flat out ridiculous (and seem to send out a mixed message in contrast to what the story was trying to say earlier). There's also the case of a knockout drug given to a character that has to be the least effective drugging in movie history.

Still, there are some very impressive visual flourishes in latter half, including a highly stylized murder sequence straight out of an Argento flick. It was also great to see veteran British actors like Rita Tushingham, Diana Rigg (in her final performance) and Terence Stamp pop up in meaningful supporting roles. Unfortunately, none of them can redeem this movie's overwrought 2nd hour.


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DJariya

I just got back from seeing it tonight. I liked it. Although it does get a little messy to reach it's conclusion. But, I thought it was very stylishly directed and had great looking costumes and set designs for the period sequences with Anya Taylor-Joy.

I agree about McKenzie's performance in the 2nd half of the movie. She was a little too over the top and bug eyed and it got annoying. The final twist wasn't too hard to figure out.

But overall, it was different and I appreciate the attempt to try something new to the horror/serial killer genre. I'd give it a B.

Toddarino

I really enjoyed this a lot.

DJariya

I just noticed the thread title has a typo after 2 years. It's Anya Taylor-Joy.

dex14

I thought on a technical level, this film was fucking fantastic. The production design, camera work, soundtrack.... so great. Wright is on the top of this game in this area. McKenzie and Taylor-Joy were really good and yes, it does go over the top, but that is what was called for in a way. Having just watched Suspiria a few days ago, this is a clear homage to the crazy Giallo films of that era. As mentioned, the last act does delve into the pretty generic, but I didn't flat out hate it. The journey was just much more fun than the destination.

Why So Blu?

Definitely a style over substance film but I loved the leads. Saw it in Dolby Cinema last night and the video/audio were outstanding.

Dr. DVD

Caught this today and agree. The two leads were both great, I just wish McKenzie's character didn't turn into a typical horror movie woman in the last act, but I guess that's what Wright was going for.

tonyc3742

We saw this tonight.
Unfortunately in a regular theater so video/audio was regular.
Really liked it. We realized the twists just a little bit before they occurred, so that was cool and fun.
The middle was a little uncomfortable, which of course it was supposed to be (I went in having only seen one trailer and the Downtown video), but it ramped up toward the end.

Agree that the camera work and soundtrack were excellent.

Dr. DVD

While I did like the movie, there were definitely some "Scott Pilgrim" moments where you just had to accept that this was taking place in a mostly fantasy based reality.

tonyc3742

Obviously some spoilers in both, but
New York Times has a review

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/m...smid=url-share

and an interview with Edgar Wright about the movie.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/m...smid=url-share

The interview is worth reading.

(You should be able to access both of those for free for the next 14 days without registering, I did the 'gift an article' thing.)

Why So Blu?

And this bombed.

Osiris3657

The gf and I really enjoyed this one. Nice twist

Dr. DVD

Not entirely, if you believe the production company.

OldBoy

Good. Maybe it’ll stream faster.

Why So Blu?

I don't. 43 million budget and it only made 4 million and change? Even Antlers beat it by a couple grand. It's a bomb.

RichC2

Yeah it didn't do well but I'm confused about the budget being shown for it. It notes that it's an estimate, but based on what.

Toddarino

Pretty shitty that you hope a movie bombs just so you don’t have to leave your house to see it.

Why So Blu?

I think it also bombed in the UK.

RichC2

Yep. This more or less opened the same as The Last Duel in the US (that title made half of what Soho did in the UK opening weekend though, but neither did very much business).

The $43m budget though still doesn't seem right.

TomOpus

Bizarro way to show support. "I'll stream your movie but you gotta bomb first. But I won't torrent it. I'm not a complete dick."