The Lure

2015's THE LURE came to my attention on the Criterion Collection website, which announced its induction among many other prestigious films fortunate enough to bear that mark of prestige.  I would've still been intrigued by this movie even without such a pedigree: a Polish horror musical about mermaid sisters who attack people and eat their hearts.  I got the vibe that this was art house fare that did not play up the more exploitive elements of such an enterprise.  I was correct.  This Hans Christian Andersen inspired story quite metaphorically and generally tastefully considers female rites of passage into adulthood.  All within a 1980s setting in Poland.

Golden (Michalina Olszasnka) and Silver (Marta Mazurek) wash up on a beach one night, singing a siren-type song to a dude who's part of a musical family that performs at a local club.  The owner is an oily crust who quickly learns what happens when water hits the girls' legs.  Ah, what an act they will be! Even though they smell!  Soon the sisters, dubbed 'The Lure", are a singing and striptease sensation for the crowd.  They're terrific singers.  The rest of the performers like them, too.  At first, anyway; you know how these stories go.  Silver falls in love with that dude, a bassist in the house band.  Another fish guy (who sings in a heavy metal band) shows up and warns Golden what will happen if Silver pursues her beloved and fails (will she end up eating him, too?).  When Golden tries singing for his group, he politely tells her she "needs practice".

The Little Mermaid retelling dominates the later going, and this is where the film loses its footing, so to speak.  The first half hour of THE LURE is so stylish and unpredictable that I felt I was witnessing a neo cult phenomenon.  Director Agnieszka Smoczynska creates a real seductive energy and erotic charge in those scenes, but the mechanics of the story, which admittedly leads to a finale that is both sad and shocking, weigh down the magic overall.  The musical performances (many outside the club) are mostly quite electric and fun but have some of the most awkward, banal lyrics I've heard, er, read via subtitles (maybe the English translation is the culprit?).  There are some gory and spooky scenes, but the film isn't really that interested in being horrific.

Smoczynska saw Robert Bolesto's screenplay as a reflection of some of her own experiences as a teen in her mother's nightclub in the '90s, and she gives the story a firmly feminist (though not necessarily misandrist) bent.  The themes are interesting, and everyone gives a dedicated performance. The girls are sexy, yet child-like, exactly what these roles required.  Jakub Kijowski's cinematography is lush and beautiful, perfect to capture the color of nightclub neon and moonlight sheened fishtails.

But maybe THE LURE would've been better as a short subject.  Even though every scene is interesting as a stand alone, the collection of them reveals some fat that could've been trimmed, leaving a tighter and more highly effective tale for those your consideration.  But these are still ninety-two minutes well spent for those looking for the next curiosity in world cinema.