It makes the compelling case that even without labyrinthine murder plots or hard-bitten private eyes, a young girl's passage into adulthood can be the perfect, darkly dazzling vehicle for a sunshine noir.

When the handsome millionaire Javier arrives he becomes for Julija a means of escape from the island to live a bigger life out in the world.

The gorgeously shot film, named after the eel (murina, a local delicacy) that the father and daughter bring up from the ocean bed, is a wriggly, sensuous delight.