#Last Night In Soho Reveals The Thrilling Next Era Of Edgar Wright [Fantastic Fest]

This transformation has been a few years coming. “Baby Driver” saw Wright deliver his first mainstream smash hit, a heist movie powered with the soul of a musical. “The Sparks Brothers” is one of the more unique and stylized musical documentaries you’ll ever see. But “Last Night in Soho” confirms that we’ve entered the age of Edgar Wright 2.0, an era where the filmmaker clearly feels a desire to reinvent what people expect from him and his work.

You’ll still find Wright’s touchstones in “Last Night in Soho.” His stories are intricately plotted, with seemingly every scene leading to a payoff that proves worth the wait. He’s still one of the most clever stagers of scene transitions working today, moving us (and his characters) between locations and time periods with either grace and discombobulating force. And yes, his characters still sometimes say one thing and immediately do the opposite, the kind of wry comedy that’s been a trademark since his television days. But now, they exist to serve this story, not to remind you of a dozen others.

I imagine there will be a crowd of movie fans who wonder what happened to the filmmaker who made “Shaun of the Dead,” and why he’d make “Last Night in Soho” (and “Baby Driver” and “The Sparks Brothers”). But if there’s one thing a seasoned cineaste like Edgar Wright knows, it’s that filmmakers who stagnate are filmmakers who cease to be interesting. That makes “Last Night in Soho” Wright’s greatest movie reference yet. He knows that the filmmakers with the most interesting legacies are those who know when to reinvent themselves.

Cue a young filmmaker building their name referencing these newer Edgar Wright films in their homage-laden first films. They’re special enough, and unique enough to warrant that reaction from another artist. By taking this leap, Edgar Wright has officially done his part to create… Well, the next Edgar Wright.

Read our review of “Last Night in Soho” here. The film hits theaters on October 29, 2021.