It's 80's Poland. Two mermaids, Silver and Golden, are lured on shore. They join a strip act in a nightclub. Silver falls for Mietek and risks her life to be with him.

This is a Polish film reimagining the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Little Mermaid. It's a dark erotic horror musical fable. It's doing a little too much and gets a little disjointed. I would drop the carnivorous nature, and the musical. Others may see it differently. I couldn't figure out whether to fear for the mermaids and be afraid of the mermaids. The shifting can be jarring. I get the musical aspect's connection to the story but it doesn't really fit. The world building is also a bit muddled. It's somewhat confused whether people know about mermaids or not and the era does not get infused into the story. This is definitely ambitious even if it's too ambitious.

Criterion is the label - for special titles. Some say for classics (instant or not),others refer to the label for special movies in general. Movies that may not fit into a category. So this fits that category. It may not be a classic for various reasons, but at the end you may see and hopefully feel something that comes close to that feeling.

Up to that point there is some pacing issues, some timeline jumping issues and some issues with people and the way they behave, when faced with ... well our female main characters. If you can call their characters female that is. There is nudity, there is violence and there is singing too. A lot actually, so if you have issues with one or more of those things, this may not be for you in the first place. Otherwise a modern day fairy tale is what you get ...

Lethal, but lovely and enchanting mermaid sisters Golden (striking brunette Michalina Olszanska) and Silver (adorable redhead Marta Mazurek) decide to go ashore in 1980's Warsaw, Poland. The pair make a big splash working as strippers and singers at a seedy nightclub. However, complications ensue when Silver falls for bassist Mietek (amiable Jakub Gierszal) while Golden can't resist her natural predatory urge to eat people's hearts.

Director Agnieszka Smoczynska ably crafts an intoxicating dreamlike atmosphere tinged with dread and melancholy as well as adroitly uses the novel premise as a means of exploring such topics as the hypnotic power of unbridled female sexuality, adolescent rites of passage including puberty and maturity, male exploitation of women, and the objectification of the female body by men. Moreover, Smoczynska and screenwriter Robert Bolesto not only offer a deliciously bold and inventive blend of horror, fantasy, and musical elements, but also toss in a tragic love story for extra poignant measure. Mazurek and Olszanska both possess an otherworldly beauty that make them incredibly sexy and credible as irresistible sea sirens; they receive fine support from Kinga Preiss as aging, but still sultry cabaret singer Krysia, Zymunt Malanowicz as the sleazy nightclub manager, and Marcin Kowalczyk as scruffy punk Triton. Jakub Kijowski's vibrant widescreen cinematography gives this film a sparkling neon look. Further enhanced by an infectiously bouncy and catchy synth-pop soundtrack, this truly singular oddity comes highly recommended.