Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Diana Rigg, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Synnove Karlsen, Michael Ajao, Pauline McLynn, Terrance Stamp, Sam Clafflin, Elizabeth Berrington, Jessie Mei Li, Rebecca Harrod, Kassius Nelson, Aimee Cassettari, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Beth Singh.
It is an old city and there are plenty of ghosts trapped amongst us who cannot rest, even with constant re-invention and new blood lured there in the promise of put their stamp on the world thanks to its influence, London cannot escape its own damaged past, its own cycle of death and mystery, for no matter what part of that mass conglomeration made of bricks and mortar, the ghosts have nowhere else to call home, nowhere else they can finally hope to see justice restored.
There is a lot to enjoy from a good ghost story, the feeling of the hairs on the back of the neck raise up and aid the chill in the room to become more noticeable, the understanding that in Time we are all ghosts waiting to be witnessed and the crimes we may have committed finally coming home to haunt us.
Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho is arguably one of the finest examples in modern cinema of the genre, beautifully imagined, unsparing in its mood, sympathetic to the aesthetic and the visual representation of the unfolding story, London’s Soho after all has its fair share of ghosts, and ones who are brightly lit by the neon lights and the recent memory of popular music masking the bitterness of war, the ever increasing fight against poverty, violence, and addictions great and small.
It is to Edgar Wright’s vision that the film is a stunning piece of cinematic art, one carried by the principal players of Thomasin McKenzie, Diana Rigg, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith with fierce determination, as well as the ever enigmatic Terrance Stamp, the gracious Rita Tushingham, and Michael Ajao who themselves add the extra ingredients to the tale with subtle persuasion, and in which the twist is the final expertly laid response of ‘gotcha’ in which the audience could hope for.
The perfect balance between what the outsider sees when they descend upon London and scratching beneath the neon lights that entice and beckon the unwary traveller underground, a faultless metaphor for the dead who have lost all hope of seeing their names returned, this is Edgar Wright’s skill and observation, and one that is as near to impeccable and seamless as the viewer could hope for.
Ghost stories are steeped in the fascination because they are the remains of the personal statements we leave behind when others have forgotten our faces; Last Night In Soho bares full witness to that.
Ian D. Hall