The art of stage acting is one that has been around for centuries. It has been used to educate medieval townsfolk, to tell tragedies of kings and romances of fairies, and to tell stories through songs and arias. Theatre has a wide range of uses and genres and styles, a lot of which led to the development of film acting. A lot of classic stage theatre elements can be seen in the early productions of silent films– lighting, musical accompaniment, and most importantly, body language and facial expression. Many theatre instructors willhave students watch silent filmsas a way to study these aspects of theatre.
But even though we now have “talkies” and can hear actors and sounds loud and clear in modern cinema, there are still classic theatrical elements used to tell the story. Stage theatre and film are two sides of the same coin. Films and TV shows still use techniques and aspects of classic theatre to help the audience understand what is going on and who the characters are. This is evident in Edgar Wright’s filmLast Night in Sohoin particular.
Within thetwisted thriller story ofLast Night in Soho, costumes do a lot of storytelling. Edgar Wright’s films are known for theirfantastic costume designand this movie is no exception. They do a lot of telling about the characters, revealing some of who they are before the audience fully realizes it, as well as showing changes within the characters. Sandie herself is almost always dressed in pinks and reds (when she chooses her own clothes), and even the decor of her apartment as old Ms Collins has red furniture and lamps. She is always surrounded by fiery colours, which makes Sandie’s passion and beauty clear to the audience. What they don’t know is that these colors also mimic and foreshadow the end of the film when it is no longer Sandie’s fiery passion being shown, but her cruelty rooted in trauma, and in the end Sandie is engulfed by her fiery colors as her apartment goes up in flames.
Ellie begins her story by wearing her handmade “country” clothes, mostly muted earth tones, that reflects both her background but also her quiet and muted personality. The more she gets swept up into Sandie’s story, the brighter colours she starts to wear– even going so far as to change her appearance to look just like Sandie. This shows the audience how Ellie begins to lose herself and blur the lines between past and present. It also shows how anyone could become Sandie, if our circumstances were just a little different. After Ellie survives the apartment fire and continues with design school, she wears modern clothes that feel much more her style while still carrying the colour red. The colour matches both Sandie as well as the sweater of her mother’s ghost, showing a connection between them and how Ellie still retains part of herself after everything she went through. The costumes help to emphasize the connectedness of the women in Ellie’s life, how women need to support and help one another through the horrors they go through, andplace themes of strength and femininitywithin the subconscious of the audience.
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While this movie is by no means a musical, the songs and soundtrack are definitely an important part of the storytelling. Songs and scores can tell the audience a lot– through the words, sounds,and instruments used. Every piece is important. InLast Night in Soho, the songs they chose tell what the characters, particularly Ellie, are thinking. The songs act the same way they would in a musical, except the characters in this movie aren’t the ones singing. The songs act as an internal monologue, like when Ellie is running from the ghosts of faceless men to the song “Always Something There to Remind Me” (by Sandie Shaw, no less) as she tries to escape them, reiterating to the audience how she is unable to escape the influence of Sandie even in her daily life. The most classically theatrical of the songs, though, is when Sandie sings “Downtown”. She is alone on stage in a spotlight, singing hopes and dreams, and in this moment the song mimics a soliloquy. Even though the film doesn’t have the characters outright singing all the songs, it utilizes the tones and lyrics of the music to narrate the story.
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Edgar Wright is a true talent when it comes to incorporating these elements into film; the utilization is evident inall his other films, as well despite the different styles. And throughoutLast Night in Soho,lighting is a key part of setting the mood and story. The lighting tells a lot right from the get-go. When Ellie first moves into Gooch Place and into Sandie’s old apartment, the flashing lights of the French bistro next door shine blue and red through her window; to the viewer, this lighting mimics the flashing of police lights and signals to an oncoming trouble. In moments where we see Sandie and Jack framed in shadowy headshots, they are illuminated in blues and reds as well, and red or warm lighting often follows Sandie around throughout the film (which complements and emphasizes the same ideas as her costume).
As the movie goes on, Ellie is also followed by red lighting and even, as seen in the Toucan Bar, purple lighting which shows how she is stuck between the past and present but is connected to Sandie. By the end of the film, the reds that followed both girls roared to life in the apartment as anger and fear and flames rise up. Ellie sees the ghosts of the men murdered by Sandie and how her red light even seeps into them as well. Sandie said that these men sent her to hell, and so she sent them to theirs, and the red lights and bright flames in these final moments reflect exactly that.
