Sundance Film Review: ‘The Lure’

In the mood for something strange and different? Polish film maker Agnieszka Smoczynska’s “The Lure” played at Sundance last week to a mixed  (but mostly positive) crowd.

The story is definitely a doozie. Two young mermaids decide to take a land vacation and end up in Warsaw, Poland where they join a night club band as singers. It’s set in the 80’s so the costumes, music, and set stylings reflect that era.

Golden and Silver are looking for fun and when one of them finds love for a human and the other  for human flesh, two worlds collide. Even a visit from Triton (as a heavy metal reveler) warning them of the consequences of their folly isn’t enough to put the brakes on these two mermaids.

There are a few challenges in watching the film. First off, it’s a musical and the Polish to English translation of the lyrics doesn’t always seem to make lyrical sense, so there’s that. There’s also some confusion going on for me as to the character motivations. I’m not sure if it was the language barrier, scenes being deleted for this cut, or not fully flushed out characters – but there were numerous times where dream sequences, cut scenes, and side stories did more to confuse than move the story forward. That uneven flow made the film less enjoyable despite some wonderful performances from the cast.

“The Lure” has a certain attraction. As a first time director, Smoczynska does a intriguing job with essentially a unique story, set in a place not often seen in modern movies, and using music as a medium to tell the tale, it certainly falls into the spectrum of weird but good.

However, due to poorly executed character development (and translation issues) the film barely rises to above average. The film screens great as a Midnighter and will certainly find its audience.

2.5 out of 5