Pusher

Nicolas Winding Refn modernized the crime film genre with his Pusher trilogy. Thinking about that and the era he made the first part makes you probably think of another crime film modernizer of the 90's, Quentin Tarantino. He made something totally new in the United States with three crime films: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997). People often see Tarantino as one of the most important directors in the crime genre, because he influenced it a lot. In the same way Nicolas Winding Refn made something completely original. He made Pusher. A movie about a drug-dealer who gets into a debt swirl. The way Refn shows the lives of the criminals is harsh. It's different from other 90's crime films, because it doesn't show any glamor in the underworld life. No one has got expensive cars, all of them live in their cruddy apartments, they aren't that rich and they all are under the control of their addiction to drugs.

Pusher is about a drug-dealer, Frank (Kim Bodnia) whose life isn't pretty. His only relationships are with his friend Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) and with his "girlfriend" Vic (Laura Drasbæk). When a Serbian drug-courier comes to Copenhagen and Frank fails to deliver money to him, he gets into a debt swirl.

Frank is portrayed as an ordinary guy, who is a juvenile child under his hard shelf. He even goes to get money from his mother when he needs to pay his debts. All the conversations he has with his friend Tonny are about blow jobs, strippers and prostitutes. The dialog is sharp and it's well made to feel like common everyday chat.

The film is very fast-paced and it's colored with some aggressive punk music, which I enjoyed a lot. It added a great element to Frank's life full of loneliness and despair. Pusher is a great description of the underworld in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's excessive realism and doesn't add any glamor to the lives of the junkies. It deals with the problems that are out there and with us every day, no matter where you live.

This movie blew me and my friends away 10 years ago. This rock steady and realistic tale about real criminals, not the typical American teen age- BS. These people are real, that's as simple as it gets. The docu-kind of outlook fits this movie perfect.

Someone was complaining how he couldn't sit through this movie because he didn't understand why Frankie made the choices he did. That's the point, there is no reason in real life. People make choices because they are bored or simply don't want to think about life outside the carnival. What is a family, Volvo or a house in the suburbs to a guy, who still at about 35-40 goes out clubbing and gets hi on crank and what-not everyday. These human fates don't need explanation. Perhaps I've been too close to need an explanation. One thing is for sure, these guys have made a great movie that has become a legend within certain groups of people. I guess the point of the movie was very clear in the end. Where does a man go, who keeps pushing the envelope day after day? The answer is - nowhere... Learn your lessons people, no more explanations needed.

Absolutely fabulous, that's all I can say... And I won't say too much about the movie, just that it kicks ass. Definitely one of the most enticing criminal stories in the last 20 years.

Quentin Tarantino fan?, Then watch this. Pusher has it all, drugs, violence, sex and great dialogue, it doesn't hold anything back. It's the first film by director Nicholas Winding Refn (Bronson, Drive.) and arguably his best.

The film is shot in a documentary style, in this film we follow small time drug dealer frank who is busted by the cops for trying to sell drugs, as a result of losing his drugs franks is now in debt to a local gangster named Milo, he has one week to come up with Milos money, during this week we see the desperate levels Frank stoops to in order to secure the money. What makes the film is the interesting characters, Frank, Franks girlfriend Vic, Franks friend Tonny, gangster Milo and Milo's henchman Radovan, each character brings something completely different to the film, you will find yourself favouring one of them.

The dialogue contains a lot of extreme racial slurs, and brutal violence, it makes a Quentin Tarantino film look like a PG 13. Overall the film is a fantastic watch, Kim Bodnia (Frank), Laura Drasbaek (Vic), Zlatko Buric (Milo), Slavko Labovic (Radovan) and Mads Mikkelsen (Tonny) are brilliant in this film.

What I love about this film is that it has no good guy, some people will side with Frank, some will side with Milo. Pusher is raw, edgy and most of all, entertaining.

Pusher is a visceral low-budget movie set on the streets of Copenhagen. Though its director Nicholas Winding Refn is not a part of Dogme 95 the film uses many of the Dogme maxims to better effect. The plot is deceptively simple. Frank (Kim Bodnia)is double-crossed on a deal and has a couple of days to make good the covering loan to a sadistic Balkan gangster. The film's speed rhythms convey the nightmare of time running out, luck running out, and life, shot with hand-held camera in natural light going around in circles until suddenly damnation beckons. Tougher than Tarantino or Trainspotting, it pulls no punches and its running gags fail to draw the sting. One of the great city films of the 1990s.

This is a really good film, one of the most realistic films about drugs and the criminal underworld I've ever seen. The film examines a week in the life of a mid-level drug dealer on the streets of Copenhagen and pulls no punches. Kim Bodina gives a great, nuanced performance as Frank, the dealer and main character. He captures perfectly the snaky charisma, emotional detachment and nihilism of a street dealer. Frank is essentially a sociopath, turning on the charm when it suits him and turning a blind eye on the people in his life when they can't be of any use to him. Especially effective is the portrayal of Frank's relationship with Vic, the high priced call girl he obviously cares about but can't bring himself to get physical with because of his emotional coldness. Frank blames this dilemma on her work, suggesting he can't touch her because she's a whore. However it's Vic he always turns to when things go bad.

And things go very bad very quickly for Frank. Through a series of miscalculations and bad luck, he finds himself indebted to a slimy dealer higher on the food chain who's patronizing attitude barely conceals a violent streak. As the week progresses, Frank spirals downward into a desperate attempt to fix his broken life. Trusts are broken, violence and mayhem ensue, and the film finishes on a surprising but perfect note.

The director, Nicolas Winding Refn, shows a good command of pacing and camera work. The real star of the film, however is the script. There is never a moment of Pusher that doesn't seem utterly real. Though many may find this film dark and depressing (I won't argue), I think it's strong acting and excellent direction make it well worth seeing.