The Lure (2015)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Absolutely the worst movie.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Coalescing the elements of horror, comedy, romance, musical, fantasy & coming-of-age drama into one abstract & ambitious fairytale, The Lure is an art-house endeavour that brims with fresh ingredients but it isn't a film for all. While some may be enamoured by its uniqueness, others will despise it for its muddy premise.Set in Warsaw during the 1980s, The Lure follows a pair of mermaid sisters who are adopted by a family of musicians and are soon enlisted for gigs at the nightclub they regularly perform at. While one of them seeks companionship with the humans, the other is unable to escape her bloodthirsty nature and kills people with zero remorse.Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, The Lure is no doubt arresting from the visual standpoint and adds few new things to the mermaid lore but it also becomes repetitive after a while and is unable to immerse the viewers into its tale or make them invest in the characters inhabiting it. Also, there is no explanation for the significance of its 1980s setting.The atmosphere is mysterious & sexually charged, songs are intriguing & tuneful, romance subplot feels forced, while the horror part is only present in bits n pieces. The chemistry between the two girls playing the mermaids is electric and fascinating to watch but the rest of the cast barely has any meat on them, and their presence makes no difference whatsoever.On an overall scale, The Lure is a finely envisioned & well conceptualised idea but it's also poorly executed. Its plot is intriguing but never engaging, its images are aesthetically pleasing but never alluring, and although the effort is commendable, it's never emotionally involving. Promising & flavourful at first, it doesn't take long for The Lure to turn into a pungent smelling sea foam.

The Lure is about two mermaids who come work at the cabaret. The film is never shy about female nudity but also thankfully doesn't feel too exploitative (though that imbalance is definitely worth noting). The film has fun rock numbers interspersed with falling in love and, well, murders. It ultimately boils down to the non- Disney version of The Little Mermaid. The leads were good, with Michalina being the more magnetic and confident actress. The film has some story leaps I didn't particularly care for and The Little Mermaid similarities made it too predictable for me, but plus points for originality, that fantastic tail design, and for Agnieszka Smoczynska just going for it all the way.

Two mermaids end up in Poland to work at an adult night club. One begins to have feelings for a man which is a no no as humans are nothing but food to be eaten. Something the other fish lady understands too well.It could have been more horrifying but the level of strange was too up there for that. It was like the only knowledge the polish had of these mythical creatures came form the Disney version of the Little Mermaid as they're was a lot of singing and dancing that pops out of no where. It was like a strange acid trip that was more humorous that horrifying, lying somewhere between the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sweeney Todd. It has it's grotesque moments and acts as a modern day Grimm fairy tale. A very enjoyable strangle unique experience. I like it.http://cinemagardens.com

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!