Me too as psychosis featured in psychological horror

To begin with, Last Night in Soho (2021, Edgar Wright) gives us a young woman called ELLIE (Thomasin McKenzie), whose moral anchor is her dead mum. We’ll never know exactly what happened to her mother (or anything about any of the men in their family), other than: London was a lot for her, she suffered from mental illness, and took her own life. When Ellie gets into fashion school in London, it’s her chance to earn the redemption of her mother’s ghost.

     Ellie’s dorm life is a lot for her, so she moves to Soho. There she begins to have dreams of an aspiring ingenue called SANDY (Anya Taylor-Joy). At this point in the movie, there’s a subtle shift. Sandy replaces Ellie’s mother as her moral anchor. Because Sandy is what Ellie hopes to be, and everything her mother wasn’t. Sandy is assertive, confident, and strong enough to defend herself against the untoward advances of gross men. 

     But around the midpoint, when Ellie realizes that Sandy is preyed upon in the same way her mother was and that Soho nightlife is a monster that breaks women, we get a terrifying Steadicam montage through a corridor of women shooting up, giving a blowjob, and ODing.

 

The film’s second act largely serves as a me too fueled mental breakdown. It’s when Ellie decides to make it her mission to bring the man who killed Sandy to justice that her psychotic breaks with reality escalate. And what does she do first? She goes to the police. And they don’t believe her. While off the record, the guy cop thinks she’s crazy and the lady cop believes her but admits she chose not to come forward.

     So not having got anywhere, Ellie attempts to ensnare the man she believes guilty. Yet it turns out she costs him his life and soon thereafter that she’s falsely accused the wrong man. Okay so, yes a new spin on horror, and yes timely with its relevance. But there’s more. Ellie went after this guy because his victim was her idealized role-model; and said role-model is revealed to have wantonly mass-murdered every guy who took advantage of her.

     Have you let that sink in? Last Night in Soho ends with Ellie’s success as a fashion designer, living happily ever after (looks like everyone can forget about the guilt of that old guy who got killed). Then there’s this haunting final image of Sandy staring back at Ellie from the reflection of a mirror. What a perfect note of ambiguity. So, Sandy is still Ellie’s moral anchor maybe? Is this friendly ghost an inspirational reminder? Or is this the final scene in a horror movie where the monster’s not entirely vanquished? And that Ellie’s mental illness won’t lay dormant for long?

     In closing, Last Night in Soho is superb as a fun giallo horror with the complexity found in the best of that genre. The night scenes, drenched in neon spill and the rain-beaded windows along with the slick pavement and cobblestones is gorgeous. And one of the coolest shots in a horror movie ever is when Ellie’s fixed horrified stare is reflected in the knife blade slashing in and out of frame catching it every time it comes back and forth.

 

10/31/2021 AMC Madison Yards 8

Atlanta, GA

DCP

The New New Hollywood

I've been seriously obsessed with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010, Edgar Wright) ever since it first hit theaters. I've been having to wait a while for a follow up.

Edgar Wright is like 70s Spielberg meets 80s Simpson-Bruckheimer with a comedic streak of self reflexiveness entrenched in 90s sitcom wit.

Baby Driver (2017, Edgar Wright) is a zippy heist/car chase movie with a cooly protagonist. The pacing is quick and light. The narrative never stalls. The cast are few. The plot is simple. And it's all done cleverly, effectively, with continuously refreshing results.

In Baby Driver the rare occurrence of a colorful fast-food advertisement slick plastic cartoon kid-friendly depiction of the criminal underworld is on display. Remember Sugar & Spice (2001, Francine McDougall)? Why aren't there more of these? This movie feels rated G.

First and Foremost Baby Driver is an action movie. And the code among these criminals is as dangerous as that found in any 80s R-rated gritty guy movie. I almost thought BABY (Ansel Elgort) was smug, but he's cool I actually really like him. The great thing about the cast because this is a heist movie is that the principals are all bad guys even though each has their likeable qualities--except BATS (Jamie Foxx). Bats is the only real bad guy, because he has no love in him.

Yeah while the best part of Baby Driver is the car chases, it's still mega-syrupy sugary sweet greeting card sentimental at its core. But there has to be a place for the best smartest crime doesn't pay Hollywood action movies yet. And as much as I fell in love with the romance and family drama shit in Baby Driver, I kind of wonder could there have been more car chases? There's really like 2 and a half car chases spread out through the movie. And I worry that the opening "Bellbottoms" sequence is the strongest part of the movie. Oh shit the energy, the momentum, the adrenaline from the beginning of the song--the drifting, throwing the E-brake, faking, swerving wow. Also I love how Baby actually runs into stuff while he drives.

After the "Bellbottoms" sequence the funnest parts were the times during the massacre of the Butcher's crew at the farmer's market when the gun blasts are composed in synch with "Tequila," and the similar device used in the final shootout with DARLING (Eiza González). This type of kinetic visual and aural vocabulary is what's most rewarding about Edgar Wright's work.

I love Eiza. She's so beautiful and does so much little quirky charming sexy gesturing through mannerisms throughout Baby Driver. I've always loved to watch her. Eiza and Hamm are sympathetic cute as the cokehead robbers too. Jamie Foxx is terrifying. But I still laugh when Foxx does the Austin Powers voice. So I buy this criminal underworld and it's a cool one. Just the perfect pitch of Hollywood artifice and stunning craftsmanship.

But I'll close with what to me was the most characteristically Edgar Wright moment in the movie: when DOC (Kevin Spacey) is briefing his crew and reveals, "I just drew a whole goddamn map in chalk while we've been standing here squawking. That's pretty impressive, isn't it?"