Another one that I've been looking forward to, and also going in with little or no info: Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho (2021).
It opens with Thomasin McKenzie, an ordinary young woman in Cornwall, getting ready to go to London College of Fashion. McKenzie is a big fan of the Sixties, who was raised by her gran, because her mother went to London, became a model, and killed herself. But Gran (Rita Tushingham!) told her stories about swinging London, and gave her all her mom's pop vinyl. She lives a happy, secluded life, but she has had visions of her mother, and her mental health may be a little questionable.
She finds London a little scary. Her school in in seedy Soho, her roommate is a snobby bitch, and the only guy who seems nice is Michael Ajao, a black student who she just doesn't trust.
When living in the dorm becomes too much of a drag, she moves to a rooming house run by the stern Diana Rigg. Rigg implies that the house has an unsavory past. and that she used to work there, cleaning up (or did she do more?). The room seems to have been last redecorated in the Sixties, so McKenzie fits right in.
That night, she has a dream, that she has become Anya Taylor-Joy, a glamorous woman looking to become a nightclub singer in the Sixties. She doesn't get an audition, but she meets Matt Smith, talking with Cilla Black. Smith is a dangerous but connected sharpie, and he likes the look of Taylor-Joy.
McKenzie has more dreams about this earlier era, sometimes appearing as AT-J, sometimes as herself. Sometimes, it will be Taylor-Joy with McKenzie for her reflection. Sometimes it will be Taylor-Joy dancing with Smith, then after a turn, it's McKenzie. In the waking world, McKenzie starts to design dresses based on Taylor-Joy's outfits, and even cuts and dyes her hair to match Taylor-Joy. She gets a job at the local pub to pay for this new lifestyle. But she starts noticing a menacing figure around town - Terence Stamp.
Her dreams begin to get darker, as Smith starts pimping out Taylor-Joy, at first for her career, then just for the money. In the daytime, McKenzie is haunted by grey men, possibly the men who went with Taylor-Joy. Then, in her dream, she sees Smith kill Taylor-Joy, possibly in the same room McKenzie is renting.
She tries to get the police interested. Even though it's a very old case, McKenzie suspects that Terence Stamp is old Matt Smith, and he could still be punished for Taylor-Joy's corruption and murder. If she can prove anything.
The movie does act as a decent ghost story, but that's not key. Mainly, it is a super-stylish ode to Soho, the seedy nightlife district. Strangely, although everyone is pretty rough, they are also surprisingly kind. Although McKenzie isn't much of a barmaid, the pub owner treats her kindly. Of course, she also treats Terence Stamp kindly, even if he's pretty sleazy.
The music is another important element - all Sixties classics, with a lot of big ballads sung by Cilla Black or Dusty Springfield. For her audition, Taylor-Joy sings a great acapella version of "Downtown".
The message is something like, Soho is sleazy, dangerous, warm, accepting, and haunted. The Sixties were an exciting time, but not altogether happy. And, as several characters say, "London can be a lot."
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