#896: SMOCZYŃSKA, Agnieszka: The Lure (2015)

SMOCZYŃSKA, Agnieszka (Poland)
The Lure [2015]
Spine #896
Blu-ray

This genre-defying horror-musical — the bold debut of Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska — follows a pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters drawn ashore to explore life on land in an alternate 1980s Poland. Their tantalizing siren songs and otherworldly auras make them overnight sensations as nightclub singers in the half-glam, half-decrepit world of Smoczyńska's imaging. The director gives fierce teeth to her viscerally sensual, darkly feminist twist on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," in which the girls' bond is tested and their survival threatened after one sister falls for a human. A coming-of-age fairy tale with a catchy synth-fueled soundtrack, outrageous song-and-dance numbers, and lavishly grimy sets, The Lure explores its themes of emerging female sexuality, exploitation, and the compromises of adulthood with savage energy and originality.

92 minutes

Color
5.1 Surround
in Polish
2:39:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2017

Director/Writers

Screenplay by Robert Bolesto.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska was 37 when she directed The Lure.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by novelist, playwright, and storyteller Angela Lovell.

Commentary

None.

Program

About the making of the film, featuring interviews with director Smoczyńska, actors Mazurek and Olszańska, screenwriter Bolesto, DP Kuba Kijowski, composers Barbara and Zuzanna Wrońskie, sound designer Marcin Lenarczyk, and choreographer Kaya Kolodziejczyk.

Deleted scenes

Two short films by Smoczyńska

Aria Diva (2007) and Viva Maria! (2010).

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

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