Pusher

The Pusher in question is Frank. Frank buys drugs from Milo, amongst others, cuts the coke and sells it on, keeping a small amount back for a rainy day. Frank's girlfriend is a pole dancer, his best (only?) friend is an idiot and when a deal that said idiot friend talks him into goes awry, Frank is on the way to being 'the human formally known as Frank'. Frank is in very deep do-do indeed.

Sound familiar? It should do; it's been made twice before! Executive producer Nicholas Winding Refn wrote and directed the Danish original in 1996, his feature debut in both roles, and in 2010 there was a Hindi version.

Oh, and he wrote and directed two Danish sequels.

Director Luis Prieto (in his English language debut) and his cast have a lot to live up to but Zlatko Buric, at least, is on familiar territory having played Milo in all but the Hindi version of Pusher.

You'd have thought that between them they'd have got it right fourth time around.

Alas, Winding Refn's involvement in this version, beyond that of executive producer, is limited to a vocal cameo as Amsterdam Bob and the film is left wanting because of it. His absence, not his cameo. Though Winding Refn delivered one of the finest films last year in Drive, Pusher doesn't belong in the same room as that film, let alone on the same shelf.

Pusher is a low budget British film with a small cast and a short running time (89 mins) but that shouldn't count against it because so was Tower Block. However, Tower Block warranted a very solid eight stars while, but for the presence of Richard Coyle, Pusher would fail to limp beyond two. In the opening scenes (and by opening I mean the first 40 minutes or so before I gave up wishing for an improvement) everyone, Coyle aside, seems to be trying so damn hard to impress. Bronson Webb (idiot friend, Tony: "Whatever the opposite of scared is, that's me") is a far cry from the convincing, chilling actor we saw in Eden Lake; Buric clearly wants to leave us in no doubt that he is happy on the surface because he keeps jumping up and down like an excited three year old with a deep voice; and Agyness Deyn (pole dancing Flo) seems unsure of her own ability half the time.

Coyle (Coupling, Going Postal) alone convinces but even he seems less involved in Pusher than we are used to in his other work. He glides along in the film smoothly and, though we never really know what makes him tick, he avoids the block capital, stereotypically villainous character traits. When it is his turn to intimidate, he does so quietly with subtle, determined menace rather than a crowbar. Indeed, when placed in a position of dishing out violence, he is reluctant to be involved.

Pusher is a long way from being a dreadful film but it could be so much better as the original proved. As we departed, I asked my companion his opinion.

"I liked the font." I don't have a problem with liking the font. It's good to have a fellow cinephile who appreciates the small touches, but if that is what is foremost in the viewers' minds when they leave the cinema, the director really needs to ask himself some serious questions.

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Review: Honestly, how much bad luck can one man have. He was definitely in the wrong profession! Anyway, I quite enjoyed this movie but the music was so annoying. All of the actors put in good performances, and the storyline was cleverly written to keep the audience in suspense. It does tend to go round and round in circles and it could have done with a bit more action, but for a British film, it was good to see something fresh without the same old faces. We have seen this storyline many times before, but the director showed us a the life of a drug dealer from a different point of view. I did expect more after watching the first half an hour, but its not a bad watch.

Round-Up: I haven't seen Richard Coyle in any other movies, but he brings a kind of intensity to the role as Frank, which worked well in the movie. Although his character has followed the bad path in life, you can't help but feeling sorry for him throughout the movie because of his bad luck. The main question that comes to mind whilst watching the movie is, Who Do You Trust, even though everyone seems to like Frank in one way or another. It also shows the dark underworld with drugs and violence which we have seen quite often in movies nowadays with the involvement of Eastern Europeans.

I recommend this movie to people who enjoy there British movies about drugs and violence and a man trying to pay of a debt. 4/10

PUSHER was a strong and vivid little Danish crime thriller, made by Nicolas Winding Refn back in 1996. It was the start of what has become a successful Hollywood career, and obviously at some point somebody had the grand of idea of shooting an English-language remake. Unfortunately, this remake is completely redundant for anybody who's seen the original. It's a scene-for-scene copy, one of those which I hate, and other than the different backdrops and actors everything plays out almost exactly the same. And, somewhat inevitably, it's an inferior product to the first film in every respect.

The cast just don't scream authenticity here as they did in the original film. Richard Coyle is a selfish, mean-spirited protagonist and I found myself actively wishing for his demise. Bronson Webb takes the Mads Mikkelsen role from the first film and is absolutely awful, going way over the top without any attempt at restraint. The only decent performance comes from Zlatko Buric, making a welcome turn from the Danish film and playing the same role.

Inevitably the sex, violence, and profanity are ramped up from the original movie, but the script feels lowbrow and director Luis Prieto is no Nicolas Winding Refn, that's for sure. His attempts at style, with the camera speeding around his protagonist while thumping music plays, just feel dated and very 1999. Not a good film at all.

For some strange reason, I thought this film being executive produced by NWR would render better results. Alas, I was duped again by marketing.

I should have known. After all, what made the original Pusher (and it's two sequels) great was not the very basic, over told story, but rather the style of NWR's direction, the performances of the actors and the very real time nature of the film.

The directing here is quite pedestrian and downright lazy, bringing nothing of the style of the original. The acting is decent, but again we've already seen this done better.

And by the way, this film was already remade two years ago in India.

Every director has movies they just LOVE and would want to emulate. For such a basic story, this director could have come up with any one of many basic "drug deal gone bad" stories and used his style to tell it. Unfortunately, this film takes the easy way out, trying to simply capitalize on the name of the original, without elevating it.

In Pusher, we follow Frank, a low lever drug dealer/user in London for a week. Usually he deals small quantities in danceclubs or larger quantities to partying rich low lives. His girl, a stripper and escort but not prostitute, keeps the money for him. He also spikes the drugs and keeps the remainder in a storage space.

He's got two major deals going on. In the first his sidekick recommended him to some guy who wants to buy 1 kilo of drugs. Frank is reluctant, he doesn't know the guy, but he eventually accepts. He gets the kilo on credit from his dealer whom he already owes 3000 pounds. The second deal involves a girl who will bring him 1/2 kilo somehow in her body from Amsterdam.

The first deal goes wrong, the cops show up and Frank is forced to dump the drugs in a lake, so the cops have to release him. Now he has no drugs and no money, and owes his dealer even more. His dealer likes him and treats him alright, as long as things are going well. But when he can't deliver, things get progressively worse. Frank and one of the dealer's guys start collecting debts owed to Frank and things get violent. And this is also a warning to Frank about what will happen to him if he doesn't deliver.

Frank is counting on the second deal to go through, but it doesn't. The girl eventually shows up with 1/2 kilo of sugar. She was ripped off in Amsterdam. That gets Frank a good beating and a final deadline to obtain the ever increasing amount of money. Finally he sees the light and decides to escape the country with his girl, but he's got a couple of things to take care off.

I have not seen the original version of this. Pusher while marketed as some violent edgy movie, is rather a very good thriller/drama with a unique personality. Frank and his friends are a likable bunch and you don't want to see them in trouble. Since you care for him, the story itself is interesting and most of the other characters are also compelling, especially his friendly but dangerous dealer. Stories like these work only as long as the characters remain irrational and insist on staying in their little hell and refuse to see the obvious way out- get the hell out of town and take your business elsewhere. Acting, direction, editing and good all around. The music is also excellent, there's lots of electronic music when Frank goes to clubs.