Review: The Lure

The Lure may very well have just created a new genre, goth-musical sex-comedy horror. Oh and it is Polish. There is no preparing you for the lush weirdness of Agnieszka Smocynska's debut feature film. It involves two mermaid sisters who travel onto land, look for love, eat people, and get a job singing and stripping at a local nightclub. The Little Mermaid may come to mind but it probably shouldn't.

The club with its fluorescent green backrooms and dull stage design pit the film in some realism. As weird as things get, there is a sense that this is happening in the real world or something close to it. In this way, The Lure calls to mind David Lynch. The 80's synth-driven musical numbers add another layer of the surreal to the film.

The mermaids, Gold (Michalina Olszanska) and Silver (Marta Mazurek), are driven on shore initially by the lure of a man. They are able out of the water to transform their tails into legs. For the most part, the two look like real women aside from one key anatomical difference. They lack genitalia and as their hunt for love progresses, this comes to be both a blessing and a curse.

As the mermaids are put on display in musical numbers where they sing, strip and show off their tails, the grow found of the bass player in the band. The musical numbers are great. Decadent and full of energy, they all have an eerie quality to them that enhances the overall mood of the film. The Lure has enough atmosphere for three films.

Underlying all the oddities is an exploration of female sexuality. There is a focus on the expressive nature of clothing and setting. The mermaids see the ways in which they allure brings about the best and worst in men. In the end, sisterhood seems to be the solidarity offered to them.

Everything in the film seems locked in on the same wavelength. Kudos to Smocynska for creating a film that has so much on its mind while still being fascinating and entertaining. The Lure is a truly original film.

4/5