The Lure (2015)

It has its moments. It has its problems. It is weird for the sake of weird. You can tell people you have seen it. But it is basically The Little Mermaid getting punched in the face a lot.

It is unforgettable.Mainly because it is a polish horror/musical presented with in the original soundtrack with subtitles. And likely the best polish musical/horror film you will ever see.Does it work, aside from the oddity? Actually, not really.Perhaps because the director thinks he is living in the 1970s, or perhaps because the entire cast looks like they escaped from an off-Broadway version of Cabaret.The two young ladies playing the fish are best part. You get a sense they were waiting for a better movie but never quite found it.

I just came from a screening of this movie at the filmPolska festival in Berlin. I enjoyed it more than I expected, because the film description made me a bit apprehensive. But it turned out very good! I enjoyed the unexpected mix of comedy, drama, music, horror, fairy tale and a bit of eroticism. It also had a nice flair of the 1980s Poland. The visual part of the film is great: the mermaids are very realistic (if you can say that about a mermaid), with long and heavy fishtails, and the actresses give a great performance. Despite their prettiness, the mermaid sisters look inhuman, animalistic. Mermaids are said to sing extraordinary beautiful song to attract men (and then kill them, heh), so I think it was a difficult task to create music to reflect this. However, it worked brilliantly. I was also pleasantly surprised by the subtle eroticism which never bordered with vulgarity. (It was also great to see a love scene between two women, I didn't expect it from a Polish movie.) Great job!

To be honest I have very little patient for musicals, it must be a great musical film to call my attention and have my appreciation... But, in the mood of FANTASPORTO (a fantasy film festival from my home town), I decided to give a chance to this Polish film. I knew it was a musical but I thought it wouldn't be SO musical, and I mean so annoyingly musical, with singing and dancing scenes in the most ridiculous situations! The plot is about two beautiful mermaids who become the singer stars of a nightclub and then one of them falls in love for a human boy, and that wasn't supposed to happen... It's all a story about love and how to stand out boundaries for love... The main idea is not bad I must say and I even think it could have been a nice movie if it wasn't so... musical! OK, it's true I'm not a fan of the genre, but enough is enough! I score it 3/10!