Monday, June 8, 2020

90 min Netflix DVD - "The Lure." All You Need to Know About Mermaids and Eastern Euro Pop

*Blog post started on June 2, 2020.

This week has started by just being awkward. We are given schedules with our regular hours only to be told that we are not yet ready to start them. Yes, it is because of the riots that happened Sunday and availability needs to be adjusted accordingly. No need to be open for white nationalist to point out where funds might be easily accessible.


With that said, maybe we need to skip expressing our anger with destruction and petty looting and skip to robbing banks. Everyone loves a charismatic bank robber.

It is good to joke about the civil disobedience and the morons who do not or refuse to understand it. Humor is my coping mechanism. Too bad it takes a hell of a lot of work to get to a point where I can talk to my family about it. Thus, I do not have anyone to talk to about it. The ex girlfriend is getting antsy to move on to living with her ex fiance who only lived with her for one year compared to the near four that I have. My cat(s) are great company, but tough to converse with. Never mind that it would be redundant. Their opinion is obvious about humanity. Burn it down.

So I woke up early on Monday to be three hours early. The bank closed for the day two and a half hours into my shift. This left me with way too much time. I did not know what to do with myself, so I was in bed before 11 pm. Noon was when I got out of bed and started the day, so at least I was finally able to hibernate. Hence, the biggest frustration for having a busy work shift was forgetting to document which blog posts needed to be published yesterday.

This might not necessarily be a bad thing. I might want to avoid releasing my latest political blog with how things are going. Only because it just does not involve the George Floyd situation directly. You will get the assholes I will call out saying that I am making it all about myself. It would be better for all of us if I just posted my "Bitch Slap" review from nine years prior. But now is the time to call out all the lousy cocksuckers (to just say cocksucker would not be an insult), and you know what side anyone who has a library of memes about the race card will be on.

It would not be fair to call them out without giving them notice that I will be calling them out. They would have to stick around for this post to know that. Good thing it is not the time to be fair. Here is to hoping that they will at least enjoy a review for a Polish mermaid rock musical. These fuckers will probably refer to that nations current political scene on how to handle the godless, so the "The Lure" might be right up their alley.

"The Lure"


Gold and Silver a two aquatic sister of the siren variety. They swam up to try and draw in a family that makes a living as the Warsaw club band "Figs n' Dates" with their song, but they seemingly are met with a counter offer. Instead of eating the prey, why not be the biggest sensation in Poland by joining the music scene of the land? Approving the proposal leads to the formation of "The Lure".

Success is immediately found, but the sisters quickly start growing apart. Gold knows she has got to eat, so trying to feed on the audience takes up her spare time while also resisting overtures to join a merman-lead punk band. Silver on the other hand has fallen in love with band mate Mietek, and her situation seems more dire.

Mietek has no interest in a girl that he cannot have traditional coitus with. To get legs and a vagina, it will cost Silver her voice. If she fails to win his affections, she will end up turning into sea foam. Ursula did not seem this cruel. But who has the time to recognize cruelty, especially when you obviously know more than your big sister?

"The Lure" does seem to lack substance, but what musical does not. No, I have not seen "Hamilton". Is that show touring? Have I wasted my shot?

The feature does deliver on everything a somewhat low-key show should. There is enough spectacle to amuse true fans of the genre. It has a music video feel at many points for those who yearn for the nineties and MTV's Weekly Top 20. Most importantly, "The Lure" seems to give every mermaid legend/myth/fable some recognition. This film is a love story to the tales that created the Disney Princess franchise and Jasmine Beckett Griffin's art.

It may have been tough for the acting to have an international appeal. There is the language barrier of course, but musicals are about two types of performances so it maybe a greater challenge for the actors. Marta Mazurek character of Gold is written well that a reserved portrayal works, but Michalina Olszanska's Silver is written as a very layered character and she does not capture the emotional range to praise her performance.

The rest of the characters are accessories to the story, and aside from one musical number, they do not need to shine and none of them try to eat of the scenery. That would have at least livened things up when the musical elements takes a step back to melodrama.

Despite its shortcomings, which also include the effects, the film is a bit of fun. Its effects are adequate and enough for the story, but it does not give us horror fans enough. The music is more enjoyable than what I find the American top 40 to be. You will want to dance. You will want to rock. It is the closest thing to an industrial rock concert I will get to for a while. It does not bombard you too much with the spectacle.

More importantly, if you have any degree of knowledge of what Ariel's adventures should have been, "The Lure" provides you that fan service. For a fan of pop culture juggernauts that people complain about, it is great to walk into mermaid fiction that is not beholden to any past story. It is for nerdy know it alls, and that is why it works on at least some level for any fan of strange cinema.

"The Lure" is a film for cinema fans who want to further expand their horizons in story possibilities. It is by no means perfect, but how would you expect a horror/comedy musical about man-eating mermaids to end up. The fun music, the knowledge of subject matter, and ridiculous premise and spectacle alone is guaranteed to provide some enjoyment for all oddball cinema fans.

This is the closest to Hans Christian Andersen we have gotten since Danny Kay. It is best to appreciate "The Lure" if only for that.

The Lure - by Jamie Dylan



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