Thoughts from the committee
Polish, horror, mermaid, disco, musical – do we have your attention? Agnieszka Smoczynska’s debut feature The Lure reinterprets The Little Mermaid… and there is absolutely a sting in the tail.
A pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters, Silver and Golden, are drawn ashore in an alternate 80s Poland to explore the wonders and temptations of life on land. Their tantalizing siren songs and otherworldly aura make them overnight sensations as they play the part of human nightclub singers and dancers in a half-glam, half-decrepit club. One sister falls for a human, and as the bonds of sisterhood are tested, the lines between love and survival get blurred.
Bringing a much needed genre edge to our 80th anniversary celebrations, The Lure has been described by its director as a parallel both to her own upbringing, but also to the experience of immigrants. You wouldn’t necessarily spot those allegories beneath the layers of glitter and glamour, but the tale of female desire speaks (sings?) loud and clear. No matter what you’re in the mood for, the most recent film in our festival programme will make for a raucous, funny, sad, and disgusting Saturday night at the movies.
“Director Agnieszka Smoczynska concocts a refreshingly leftfield cinematic world that echoes the parallel universes of Yorgos Lanthimos’s films. Unlike Lanthimos, though, Smoczynska more eagerly embraces the light-hearted nonsense of her cine-experiment, and without straining for metaphorical import. The Lure isn’t just a luscious sci-fi mindfuck, but a musical unafraid of its own ridiculousness, with knowingly cheesy lyrics and dance numbers.”- Diego Semerenem, Slant Magazine