Edgar Wright’s latest feature film, Last Night in Soho, provides intriguing potential when it comes to the historical battle of formalist versus realist theory in film. It combines a classic Hollywood feel more adept with horror tropes that definitively stray from anything representative of true reality, and therefore adeptly encapsulate a formalist theoretical perspective. Although its two intertwining timelines take real-life issues and even stories based on reality into account at some points, which may lend itself better to neorealism, Last Night in Soho definitively exists as a film opposed to the realist ideology.
Last Night in Soho is a film that deals with a shifting and uncertain reality. From the very first scene, we see main character Eloise dancing in her room to 1964’s “A World Without Love” by Peter and Gordon, completely overtaken by her own imagination as she prepares for her journey to London to study fashion. After a loving talk from her grandmother that reveals Eloise’s mother is dead, the camera pans to follow Eloise’s eyeline toward her mirror, and we see in the reflection her mother standing beside her — a hallucination — and the first hint that Eloise is not only unreliable as a narrator, but that the film’s reality will always be in question. Realism as a theory covers distinctly the opposite, as it focuses on using film as a method of capturing reality as it exists without interruptions. Even neorealism, which could be described as a slightly less rigid version of the original theory, insists on depicting the “real world” with minimal transformations from reality to camera to screen. According to an article by Robert McConnell from the website of Salisbury University, “...the realistic artist tries to keep his own preconceived notions out of his art,” instead trying “to just report what he sees as accurately as possible, ‘warts and all’” (McConnell). In its most basic terms, realism emphasizes a focus on observation and accurate recording — the real — it is clear that Last Night in Soho does essentially the opposite of this. One of the film’s main goals as a psychological thriller is to make the audience lose its grip on reality just as its main character does, as opposed to trying to capture it in anything resembling an “accurate” form. Neorealism in particular relies on natural lighting, on-location filming as opposed to studio sets, nonprofessional actors, minimal editing, and a lack of special effects (McConnell). Last Night in Soho would largely be a terrible example of this, as it uses major professional actors, a plethora of special effects combined with extravagant editing both visually and within its sound design, as well as lighting effects and sets to create its atmosphere of 1960s Soho, London. While there are some on-location shots within the city, there is no doubt that that would be enough to classify it as an example of neorealist film. On the spectrum of realist versus formalist theory, Last Night in Soho exists purposefully and definitively on the latter side.
Viewing Last Night in Soho through a strictly formalist lens opens up a plethora of other meanings and messages that the film creates through its technical aspects. As previously mentioned, the film has a large amount of special effects, creatively lit scenes, and sound design to immerse its viewer in the setting and plot before twisting reality through even more SFX. When Eloise arrives in London, she is immediately outcast by her fashionista classmates, and moves into her own flat owned by an elderly landlady. She has a dream where she is suddenly thrust into 1960s Soho, and takes on the identity of a woman named Sandie — through perfectly timed camera movements and head-scratching mirror tricks, the perspective switches from an awestruck Eloise in pajamas to the elegant Sandie clad in chic dress and hairdo. As the melody of Cilla Black’s 1965 hit “You’re My World” swells, the fluorescent city lights glitter, and we see hints of a decade long past, the audience is immediately transfixed, just as Eloise is, on this world so different from the reality already established. The effects of the film’s technical elements can’t be summarized as simply as with ideas like Soviet Montage. However, it is safe to say that without its special effects and mainly its incredibly crafted sound design that makes even the smallest actions, like a blinking neon sign or Eloise’s footsteps, seem loud, echoey, and entrancing, Last Night in Soho would be ultimately just that much more boring. According to an excerpt from Katherine Thomson-Jones’ novel, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, “formalism remains part of a broader formalist tradition insofar as it is, in essence, a program for the structural analysis and appreciation of films as aesthetic objects” (Thomson-Jones). Aesthetically, as Thomson-Jones suggests, Last Night in Soho is a beautiful story both in how it is told, and how it is portrayed on screen. The rush of energy that came with watching it on the big screen, feeling just as the main character seemed to, amazed at how lively and glamorous the city of London felt in the past, was all accomplished using a formalist structure — creating an aesthetically pleasing and more importantly, an emotionally impactful film using technical elements that go beyond a realist, observational formula.
At the end of the day, Last Night in Soho falls far from the realist side of the spectrum, even if it takes some certain elements, like its themes, from real events. It explores real-world subjects of sexual violence, mysogyny, and multiple mental health crises, all while purposefully using these to further the question of reality for its main character, where it decidedly departs from real-world themes. Eloise’s dreams grow more and more vivid, and the experiences she has while visiting the 60s bleed into her real life. Sandie’s reality loses the glitz and glamour it seemingly had, as she is prostituted against her will by the man she had a magical romance with just moments before. The film nears its end with the horrible truth that Eloise hasn’t been dreaming — she’s been having visions. This horrible truth is reflected in the film’s sudden overuse of SFX that it had relied on sparingly enough by that point: a number of CGI effects are used in the climactic, yet horror trope-ridden final scene, which nearly takes away the prior elegance that came with its use of immersive sound design and skilled cinematography. Eloise is suddenly overcome with visions of victims from the past, and — without overly spoiling the film’s main plot twist — she must save herself from the very reality she was so entranced by.
Ultimately, Last Night in Soho is a great example of a formalist film, and a great example of what a realist film is not. It explores themes that may pertain to realism or neorealism on the surface, but are explicitly executed in a way that explores the intrinsic values of formalism. Through its twisting, uncertain reality portrayed by a specific, impactfal use of special effects and adeptly performed cinematic aspects, Wright’s period drama turned psychological horror thoroughly depicts a contrast between realism and formalism, especially within the modern context it was made in, and the real-life-based subjects it portrayed.
Works Cited
McConnell, Robert. “Realism.” Faculty.salisbury.edu, Salisbury University, 1997, http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~axsharma/mywebs/efp/realism.htm.
Thomson-Jones, Katherine. “Formalism: Katherine Thomson-Jones: Taylor & Francis Group.” Taylorfrancis.com, Taylor & Francis, 27 Oct. 2008, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203879320-18/formalism-katherine-thomson-jones.
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