By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Anna Taylor-Joy | Diana Rigg | Jessie Mei Li | Matt Smith | Oliver Phelps | Rita Tushingham | Thomasin McKenzie
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2021
Running time: 116
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9639470/reference
Brett says: “I’m sure I’m not the only one who has thought of this by any means, but a piece of advice about Steven Spielberg I always told friends in my younger days was that you should find out the runtime of his films and keep track of time during a screening. Enjoy and bask in what you’re witnessing until the last 15 minutes and then leave before the finale takes place so you can remember your viewings as some of the greatest movie magic and not have any letdowns.
“It’s not stylistically similar in any way to Spielberg, but I have to say my latest screening may have had a similar effect.
“Edgar Wright’s LAST NIGHT IN SOHO took me places as a viewer I didn’t expect from preconceived notions I had about it going in. And I loved that about it. The film had my head dancing into an fresh and otherworldly romp into the out-of-body experience sub-genre along with its film editing and production design. If I had an alternate persona, it’s no doubt it was salivating throughout while this other side of me was applauding. All in all, this equals a happy me.
” I must admit that it had me thinking that this piece could have been the result of a hearty conversation between Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch. High praise.
“The downside of this film is the over-reliance on the ‘gotcha’ factor in the final moments that I was hoping it would try to avoid. The pacing, storytelling, and editing is spot on for a majority of the film, and then it shifts into a bit of an off-the-rails falling action that takes me back to my days of Spielberg cringes. Can’t say it was a bad film (in the same way I wouldn’t say that about Spielberg either), but I would just rather have left thinking it was a proper classic that sealed the deal in the final act. I’m a bit resentful that the finale so conveniently, easily, and somewhat conventionally unravels the knots it tried so hard to wind tightly.”
