Thursday, August 17, 2006
Review: Pusher
By Alex Riviello
A film set in the gritty crime underworld of Denmark, Pusher is the first film by director Nicolas Winding Refn. The man dropped out of film school to make the film (his debut) - shooting it on a very low budget and opening in 1996 to surprisingly huge attention. He soon became the hot director in his country, leading to him releasing such films as Bleeder and the American John Turturro-vehicle Fear X. That last film put him into a large amount of debt, and to cover his losses he decided to revisit the Pusher world, releasing two sequels in 2004 and 2005 thus creating the Pusher trilogy, which became huge beyond belief, being both critically acclaimed and attracting large box office draws.
Over there, that is. It's a damn shame that no one seems to know about these films out of Denmark, because they are instant classics- some of the best crime dramas ever put to film. But that's all going to change- as they're all getting a limited theatrical release, and the sequels are finally ending up on R1 dvd later this year with any luck (Anchor Bay put out the first Pusher in 2000).
Pusher revolves around a week in the life of Frank- a smalltime drug dealer. He's a real scumbag. The world he knows is full of lowlifes just like him- all of them heavy drug users and just as manipulative and skeezy. His best friend and partner Tonny is really his only back as he runs deals and bilks people out of money.
We meet him right before he's about to overstep his bounds. Frank gets a request from an old friend for some heroin- lots of it. It's more than he can scrounge up, but he doesn't want to let this deal go. He contacts a drug boss named Milo and sets up a meeting with him to see about getting some product. He makes the deal to pick it up from Milo, sell it to his contact, and bring the money back to the drug baron- promising to bring it back in a few hours.
Things don't go as planned. Tonny injures his leg and sits the deal out, letting Frank get in the contact's car to do the trade. That's when the cops show up. Franks bursts out of the car and books for his life down the street- eventually ending up in a lake where he throws the powder, dispersing it completely. The cops grab him out of there and bring him in to the station.
Although the police try numerous scare tactics to get a confession out of him, even telling him that his buddy Tonny flipped on him, they know they have nothing solid on him since the drugs were all lost. They hold him the maximum allowable 24 hours and set him free.
The first thing he does upon release is get in touch with Milo to explain his situation. Milo of course doesn't believe a word of his story, and since he doesn't have either the money or the drugs he demands Frank pay him in a few days... or else he's got a few henchman that will work him over. One of them is very skilled at cutting kneecaps out.
The rest of the film finds Frank on a mad scramble to get the money. We follow him as he hits up people who owe him, and watch as he gets more and more violent and out of control as the deadline approaches.
I unabashedly love this movie. It's the kind of film that will stick in your head for days after you watch it- you'll go over every nuance and just love how well it's put together. Yes, it's low budget.... it's very rough- but that all works in its favor. The entire film is shot on a frantic handheld cam - leading to insane amounts of tension in every scene. There's a constant threat of violence throughout everything- and the stuff that's there is very realistic- exploding in a second with no warning. These are not levelheaded individuals you're dealing with- they all live by the sword and have no qualms about getting into dangerous situations.
The fact that all of the actors are amazing is what really makes this movie work. Milo (Zlatko Buric) became famous for this role- so much so that he ending up playing a small role in Pusher 2 and the lead in Pusher 3. Frank (Kim Bodnia) is the anchor in this film- and thankfully he's completely convincing in his role- since this film is all about him.
There is honestly no limit to the amount of praise I can give this film. The only thing I regret is not hearing about it sooner. Thankfully, that's all changed- and I can tell you that my one wish right now is to own this for myself. Pusher 2 and Pusher 3 somehow manage to be completely different films than the first, while still dealing with the same dirty characters from the first. They're all great- and it's arguable that the series gets better as it goes on. This is an amazing trilogy that everyone needs to experience.
9.5 out of 10
Pusher is released in limited theaters on August 18.
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Wow. That sounds pretty great.