#Edgar Wright Evolves, If Not Improves, His Familiar Form [Venice 2021]

The film does get a little dicey on execution as it takes some turns in later acts, ones that Wright warned early viewers not to remotely spoil for future audiences. (Nevermind that such an insistence makes it easier to spot the twists given how it puts viewers on even higher alert.) Yet one area where it does stay quite riveting and relevant throughout is as a ghost story. Literally, to some extent, but also figuratively. Wright recognizes the way in which the past continues its stranglehold over the present not through the undead but via the living – both those who survive without heeding any lessons and those who came of age internalizing a retrograde logic.

The film does sputter a bit when it’s playing solely on Eloise’s psychological terrain. It’s wading in some uneasy waters when the driving question of the story is whether the protagonist is or isn’t crazy. Wright doesn’t demonstrate the same comfort in grappling with the thorniness of mental health as he does with the eccentricities of culture. The same also applies to the film’s depiction of gender politics and rape culture.

It’s a bit unfortunate that Thomasin McKenzie is so constrained by the conventions of the genre — namely, hysterics — that Wright cannot utilize her real strengths as a performer. (Unlike Anya Taylor-Joy, who gets to sizzle and smolder in the way that has made her one of the most exciting rising stars in the business.) In films as disparate as “Leave No Trace” and “The King,” she dazzled with a stunning command of interiority for such a young performer. While always a believable and compelling presence in “Last Night in Soho,” this over-the-top emoting is significantly less effective than roles where she’s given the chance to quietly slip into the skin of a character.

But then again, Wright’s movies have never really placed characters and their psychology at the center. Arguably, Edgar Wright is the pivotal figure in the films he directs, given the way he makes his presence unavoidable with ever-present visual flourishes. There’s still some room to grow on character development, although he shows remarkable artistic development by subsuming himself within sleight-of-hand and other sly cinematic tricks.

“Last Night in Soho,” with all its warts and wonders, shows you can teach an old dog some new tricks. Wright shows he still hasn’t hit his ceiling as a filmmaker, but’s heartening to see him stretch and reach rather than just keeping his artistic ambitions planted on the floor.

/Film rating: 7.5 out of 10