Last Night In Soho [Blu-Ray]

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith

Release Date: January 18, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9.5/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

In acclaimed director Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller, Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit, Old), an aspiring fashion designer, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s, where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy, Emma, The Queen’s Gambit). But the glamour is not all it appears to be, and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Last Night in Soho’ follows hopeful fashion designer Eloise (McKenzie) who uproots her life and moves into the city when she is accepted to a respected design school. But when Eloise rents a room in town for some peace and quiet she finds herself mysteriously transported back in time to the glitz and glamour of the same London area in the 1960’s and experiences everything through the eyes of a talented singer named Sandie (Taylor-Joy) as she meets a man with connections and starts to try and build her career. Unfortunately the shiny surface ends up being just that as the darker aspects arise in this mysterious woman’s story and Eloise soon finds aspects of the past and Sandie’s experiences blurring into her own world.

Directed by talented filmmaker Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) from a screenplay that he also co-wrote with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917) and based upon Wright’s own story, Wright does a magnificent job at the helm of ‘Last Night in Soho’ guiding along this twisty and visually marvelous tale with true care and style. The film also benefits from a well selected cast that includes Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Anya Taylor-Joy (Glass), Matt Smith (Lost River), Michael Ajao (Attack the Block) and more, with the majority each offering solid performances in their respective roles for this most part.

‘Last Night in Soho’ is a beautifully constructed mystery layered on top of a horror film that’s as enthralling and tense as it is visually dazzling and clever. It weaves together a powerful tale of hopeful dreams and their more bleak realities, along with one woman’s struggle to excel at the opportunity she’s been given and the clash that evolves between her reality and the glamour and secrets she uncovers while mysteriously experiencing another young woman’s life during a time she’s only dreamed of seeing firsthand. As she quickly finds it almost impossible to step away from these unexplainable trips back in time, the bleak elements of this strange girl’s past soon begin to haunt her in the present. As the collision of these two worlds and times as well as the secrets they hold edge closer to the forefront, the tension and sense of urgency within builds in unison and the careful manner in which its handled really helps the film to evolve in the best possible way while allowing the user to almost sense the changes of tone and tension in the air throughout; all while still being unable to ignore the beauty and unique approach to each moment along the way. I can’t possibly urge everyone strongly enough to make a point of checking out ‘Last Night in Soho’ whenever possible. It’s a stunning and powerful film that will keep you on edge throughout while simultaneously blown away by the consistent beauty on display that matches splendidly with the tale at every turn. Filmmaker Edgar Wright has once again delivered a masterpiece that excels on almost every level and it’s not to be missed.

Overall, ‘Last Night in Soho’ is a tense, intriguing and visually spectacular mystery through time laced with plenty of surprises around every turn and a bright, colorful approach that helps this wild ride to not only become something truly special but also incredibly unique, with a sense of style and beauty radiating from it at all times, even in the darkest of moments. ‘Last Night in Soho’ easily earns one of my highest possible recommendations. It’s a phenomenal piece of cinema that’s as smart and tense as it is breathtaking; easily one of the best films of last year. At the absolute least this one should have no trouble proving well worth a couple hours of your time and the cost of a rental, but those of you who tend to enjoy many of Edgar Wright’s films as much as I do shouldn’t be too surprised if you also find yourself wanting to own this stunning gem of a film.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Last Night in Soho’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fairly great as a whole and provides a rich, clean and vibrantly colored presentation from start to finish that aside from some minor instances of light noise and other nearly unnoticeable imperfections delivers nicely. It holds up without issue even during the various darkly lit, heavily populated and fast moving moments throughout, never resulting in anything occurring onscreen becoming problematic or negatively affected. Overall, this is a solid high definition video presentation that shouldn’t have much trouble satisfying both fans and newcomers to the film.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a great complement to the onscreen tension and excitement, delivering a crisp, clean and quite aggressive audio presentation throughout. It constantly utilizes all seven available channels in order to send the music, along with vehicle and nature effects, bits of dialogue and more throughout the various speakers at every fitting opportunity while never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a great Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that delivers admirably across the board and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Last Night in Soho’ is jam-packed with bonus content that fans should enjoy. Included on the release are ‘2 Audio Commentary’ tracks, the first of which is an ‘Audio Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Edgar Wright, Editor Paul Machliss and Composer Steve Price’ and the second an ‘Audio Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Edgar Wright and Co-Writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns’. The release also includes a handful of ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 9 minutes in length altogether), along with various Behind the Scenes Featurettes that include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Meet Eloise’ (running approximately 10 minutes), ‘Dreaming of Sandie’ (approximately 9 minutes), ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ (12 minutes), ‘On the Streets of Soho’ (8 minutes) and ‘Time Travelling’ (11 minutes). We are also treated to ‘Animatics’ for 4 key scenes: ‘First Dream’, ‘Shadow Men’, ‘Murder’ and ‘Final Confrontation’ (approximately 13 minutes in total), as well as some additional behind the scenes ‘Extras’ including ‘Hair and Makeup Tests’ (7 minutes), ‘Lighting and VFX Tests’ (6 minutes), ‘Wide Angle Witness Cam’ (2 minutes), ‘Acton Town Hall Steadicam Rehearsal’ (1 minute) and ‘Steadicam Alternative Take’ (2 minutes). A Music Video for “Downtown” performed by Anya Taylor-Joy (approximately 5 minutes) is also included, in addition to 2 Trailers for the movie: ‘Domestic Trailer #1’ and the ‘International Trailer’ (approximately 2 minutes each).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 9.5/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

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‘Last Night In Soho’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Focus Features & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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