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“Last Night in Soho” opens with Eloise “Ellie” Turner (Thomasin McKenzie), dancing passionately to Peter and Gordon’s “A World Without Love.” She moves into her bedroom, where the walls are covered with posters, relics from that decade, and among them, one stands out: the 1961 romantic comedy “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” while a massive hit at the time, is now outdated because of its sexist attitudes and racist characters. This subtle addition in the background of the first scene implies the message of disillusioned nostalgia, setting the tone for the rest of the film.

“Last Night in Soho” is a film of firsts for director Edgar Wright. He previously wrote and directed the zombie film “Shaun of the Dead,” which was more of a horror-comedy. Wright’s latest film was his first attempt at directing a true psychological and supernatural horror film, and it shows.

It was also Wright’s first movie with a female lead, and the director goes past the symbolism of this by exploring the relationship between nostalgia and sexism. These ideas are insightful and important, but ultimately, the theme is surface level and does not offer much new insight or depth. “Last Night in Soho” points out that nostalgia can be problematic but does not fully explore the characters’ feelings about it.

The film tells the story of fashion design student Ellie, who inexplicably travels back to the 1960s in her dreams. In these visions of the past, Turner encounters aspiring but failed singer Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy). While initially glamorous and beautiful, Ellie’s dreams take a much darker and horrific turn.

Ellie comes to the London College of Fashion with a love and extreme passion for the music, style and aesthetic of “the Swinging Sixties.” Ellie’s obsession with nostalgia bleeds into her fashion taste, and she even said that if there was any time and place she wanted to live in it would be London in the 1960s.

Initially, in visions from Sandie’s perspective, Ellie is amazed and in awe of the beautiful clubs, fun music and vibrant dancing. Her dreams maintain this seemingly ideal view of a polite and elegant past, offering a paradise for the design student.

The rules of the dream world, however, are never explained — initially, it seems like Ellie is entering the mind of Sandie and controls Sandie’s movements, but in later dreams, Sandie moves on her own and Ellie is left by herself in the dream. The dream world of the 1960s is where Wright had the potential to show how nostalgia is problematic. But due to the underdeveloped nature of the dream world, the themes aren’t fully realized, and the audience is left confused.

The character of Ellie is a vessel for Wright to warn a society obsessed with nostalgia about the harm that can come from viewing the past in an entirely favorable light. Many networks and streaming services try to sell the past back to viewers, and usually we are happy to buy it because it reminds us of better times. But remembering only the happier aspects of the past make us oblivious to the horrible actions of the past. And that is exactly what happens to Ellie.

Ellie also remains oblivious to the subtle sexism and harassment Sandie endures before the failed singer’s dark past is revealed. In the first two dreams, men constantly look at and catcall Sandie, cursing her out when she pushes back.

Throughout the film, Ellie maintains her love for the 1960s. But as the initial glare of nostalgia wears off and the horrific spirits that haunt those time periods emerge, McKenzie brilliantly displays a mixture of sadness and terror. The dream descends into chaos, and Ellie’s glitzy and glamorous views of London turn out to be tragically misinformed. She is scared of the ghosts, not the actual dark past, though — which devalues the themes Wright was seemingly trying to get across — and she still tries to hold on to her love for the ’60s for as long as she can.

Despite the important themes from the film, Wright and fellow screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns fail to fully round out this idea of nostalgia being harmful and problematic. The film concludes with a shocking twist, but despite it all, Ellie still feels a connection with Sandie and remains obsessed and happy with nostalgia, leaving viewers with a muddled ending that contradicts the themes and sentiments that Wright created the movie to portray.

Published on November 2, 2021 at 10:20 pm