Indie Gems: The Lure
I wanna be where the people are.
A mermaid named Silver (Marta Mazurek) is drawn to the singing of a man, Mietek (Jakub Gierszal) one night. She and her sister, Gold (Michalina Olszanska) come on land and follow he and his family to a club where their lovely voices and fins that appear in the water land them a part in a cabaret act. But while Silver starts to fall in love, all Gold wants to do is what mermaids do best: eat humans.
It's probably not shocking to anyone who knows me that I'm 100% for a film marketed as a "mermaid musical horror movie." You can't make this up. And a film with that description has no right being as good as The Lure is. They balance it, if you can believe it.
They essentially take the love plot of The Little Mermaid and spice it up with Europop and gore. The songs are infectious. The blood and guts isn't until later on, which I expected a bit more of, but it's used in a unique way.
Mzurek and Olszanska are perfectly cast. They have amazing singing voices. Mzurek really captures the naivety of Silver while Olszanska has "bad girl" written all over her performance.
Set in the 80's, there's likely some political subtext here, which unfortunately is wasted on me as I don't know a lot about the Polish government. To me, it felt like it had something to say about women empowerment, and how women need to be in control of themselves. I'd love to hear what you think if you've seen this film.
Recommended: Yes
Grade: B
Memorable Quote: "What if you fall in love?" - Gold (Michalina Olszanska)
This sounds interesting, although I'm not entirely up for it because of the horror part - not a fan of horror - but I'm adding this to my watch list.
ReplyDeleteHorror is probably the least amount of it. It really just has some gorey parts, so you should be okay.
DeleteI really want to see this as I heard so many cool things about the film as I think it's out on Criterion.
ReplyDeleteI think it might be too. I got it from Netflix DVD.
DeleteThis sounds so interesting, I'll ry to see it when I can!
ReplyDeleteIt is. I hope you get to see it!
DeleteThis sounds like the best fractured fairy tale ever. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you'd really dig this.
DeleteI've been wondering about this thing. It sounds quite unique. I may have to give this a look.
ReplyDeleteIt's very unique and definitely deserves a look. I hope it works for you.
Delete"They essentially take the love plot of The Little Mermaid and spice it up with Europop and gore."
ReplyDeleteI've never been more sold on a film IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I need to quit my job and abandon civilization until this becomes a part of my life.
Please watch this. I NEED your review of it!
DeletePolish government in the 80's was basically under Russian rule. It's not anymore but it's somehow almost worse now
ReplyDeleteI really need to see it. They market it so oddly here I didn't even know it's a mermaid movie I thought it was just some lame musical :P
Yeah, I felt like I was really missing out on a political part of the movie so that will likely mean a lot more to you. It's so ridiculous I think you'll have fun with it.
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