Last Night in New York 2022

Eloise “Ellie” Turner is a gentle, hopeful teenager whose life is shadowed by mental health struggles and a childhood marked by her mother’s suicide. She adored the music and fashion of the Swinging Sixties and dreams of becoming a fashion designer, a passion she begins to pursue after moving from a rural home near Redruth, Cornwall, to study at the London College of Fashion. Ellie carries the ache of loss and the memory of her mother, and she is raised by her maternal grandmother, who is aware of the ghostly traces Ellie sometimes sees in the mirrors—visions that hint at a world just beyond the ordinary.

Once in London, Ellie finds it hard to fit in among her peers. Her dorm is a rough social space where bullying from a roommate named Jocasta looms large, and only John among the students offers genuine kindness. Overwhelmed by dormitory life, Ellie moves into a bedsit owned by an elderly landlady, Ms. Collins, whose quiet air hides something more unsettling. The atmosphere shifts from claustrophobic to dreamlike as Ellie begins to slip between her waking life and vivid recollections of the past.

That night, Ellie is carried away by a string of dream sequences that transport her back to the 1960s. In one dream, she visits the Café de Paris, where a self-assured young blonde named Sandie asks about a singing opportunity at the club. Sandie’s romance with the charming but dangerous Jack—described as a teddy boy manager—unfolds in bright, cinematic color. The following morning, Ellie is stirred by a dress she designs inspired by Sandie and notices a kiss-like mark on her neck, blurring the lines between inspiration and something more ominous.

Another dream deepens Ellie’s connection to Sandie. She envisions Sandie auditioning at a Soho nightclub, orchestrated by Jack, and then returns to her bedsit—yet the visions don’t stay in the realm of memory. Ellie’s hair becomes blond, her fashion sense shifts to mirror Sandie’s, and she lands a job at a pub. A silver-haired man watches her with a knowing look, recognizing the uncanny resemblance between Ellie and Sandie. The dreams grow darker as Ellie sees Sandie trapped in a life she didn’t seek, pimped by Jack to men who wield power over her.

In the waking world, Ellie is haunted by increasingly menacing apparitions resembling Jack and the men who exploited Sandie. A vision of Jack seemingly murdering Sandie jolts her into action: she becomes determined to uncover the truth about the silver-haired man, convinced that he is Jack. She seeks help from the police, but they are skeptical, and only a kindly female detective shows concern for her wellbeing. Her search for newspaper reports about Sandie turns up something else entirely: stories of local men who vanish without a trace, hinting that Sandie’s fate may be part of a larger, unseen danger.

Driven by a fierce sense of justice, Ellie confronts the silver-haired man. He denies killing Sandie and flees the pub, only to be struck by a taxi and killed. The revelation comes soon after: the man’s name is Lindsey, not Jack, and Ellie recalls him from her dreams as an undercover vice officer who once urged Sandie to escape her exploitative world. The pieces begin to fit together in a way that shakes Ellie’s grip on reality, and panic overtakes her as she contemplates the fragile line between dream and truth.

Seeking to flee London, Ellie tells Ms. Collins that she plans to leave, a confession that triggers a chilling reveal. Ms. Collins—who she thought was a landlady—confesses that she knows Ellie went to the police because a polite “nice police lady” checked on her. Then Ms. Collins discloses a shocking truth: she herself is Sandie. The vision Ellie had of Sandie’s death was really Sandie’s desperate bid to defend herself, lure her tormentors back, and kill them in a room she controlled. Ms. Collins, now exposed as Sandie, drugs Ellie in a bid to silence her from exposing what she knows.

In the ensuing struggle, Ellie somehow triggers a fire in the bedsit. Aided by John, she fights back, but Ms. Collins stabs him and presses after Ellie. In a moment of hallucinatory clarity, Ellie sees Ms. Collins as the younger Sandie and a surreal ascent on a glass staircase. Ellie fights back, pushing Ms. Collins away and fleeing to her room, where Sandie’s spirits and the victims’ voices plead for vengeance. She resists their pleas, choosing not to be drawn into vengeance, even as the police stand outside. Ms. Collins presses forward, sees the apparitions, and is confronted by a figure she calls “Jack.” She ultimately attempts suicide, but Ellie intervenes, recognizing why the truth had to be kept secret.

Sandie herself speaks through the cryptic moment, urging Ellie to protect John and herself and to stay within the burning building as a kind of absolution takes shape. In the aftermath, Ellie finds a new path: her designs finally receive a showcase at her end-of-year fashion show, a moment of triumph that brings congratulations from her grandmother and John. In the glow of success, Ellie glimpses her mother smiling at her from a mirror—an image that confirms both the past’s hold and the possibility of healing. The final echo of the film returns in a bittersweet glance: Sandie appears in a mirror, blowing a kiss, a reminder of the lives braided together by dreams, danger, and endurance.