Pusher (film series)
The Pusher film trilogy by the Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn illustrate and explore the often violent criminal underworld of Copenhagen in gritty realism. The films have been highly praised by critics, and hold respective scores of 83%, 100% and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
| Pusher | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| Written by | Nicolas Winding Refn (1-3) Jens Dahl (1) |
| Starring | Kim Bodnia Mads Mikkelsen Zlatko Burić |
| Music by | Peter Peter |
Release date |
|
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | Danish |
Each film is led by a different lead character; Frank (Kim Bodnia), a mid-level drug dealer in the first, his friend and associate Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen), in the second, and their boss Milo (Zlatko Burić), a Serbian gang leader, in the third. Milo is the only character to appear in all three films.
Films
Pusher (1996)
The first film follows Frank for a week, a mid-level drug dealer who becomes indebted to his supplier, Milo. It depicts his depravity and how his actions force him further and further out on thin ice while revealing the bittersweet relationship he has with his girlfriend, Vic.[2]
The movie was a success, not only in Denmark, but internationally, and launched both Refn's and Mads Mikkelsen's careers.[3]
Pusher II (2004)
The second film follows Frank's low-level criminal sidekick, Tonny. It illustrates how Tonny is rooted in an evil spiral of crime and drugs, his relationship towards his notorious, cynical father and how he adapts to the consequence of being a father himself.[4] According to film critic Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times "in Refn's skilled street-realist hands, the child becomes a potent, wailing metaphor for Tonny's own dilemma of rudderless need."[5]
Pusher 3 (2005)
The third film depicts a day in the life of Serbian drug lord Milo. Milo, who was a feared and respected man in the first two movies, has since aged. He does not have the same grip on the underworld that he used to and is now slowly losing the battle against a younger generation of immigrants, who now want a piece of the action. The film shows Milo's downfall and his desperate attempt to reclaim the throne.[6]
Main characters
- Pusher: Frank (Kim Bodnia), a mid-level drug dealer.
- Pusher, Pusher 2: Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen), Frank's troubled and impulsive punk-rock friend.
- Pusher, Pusher 2, Pusher 3: Milo (Zlatko Buric), a Serbo-Danish gang leader, ruler of the Copenhagen underworld, and the only character to survive through all three films.
Reviews
Writing for The New York Times, critic Nathan Lee said of the trilogy: "From the mean streets of Copenhagen—they evidently exist—comes the Pusher trilogy, a pungent dose of Denmark rot. Written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, this tough trio of underworld thrillers sticks so close to its rogues’ gallery of gangsters, suckers and murderous megalomaniacs that you can almost taste the hate and smell the stomach wounds. Given an appetite for grisly crime flicks, they make for a delectably nasty epic."[7]
References
- "Pusher 3". Rotten Tomatoes.
- Brennan, Sandra. "Pusher (1996)". AllMovie. Retrieved 30 January 2021
- Nestingen, Andrew K. (1 April 2008). Crime and fantasy in Scandinavia: fiction, film, and social change. University of Washington Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-295-98803-0. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- Schager, Nick. "Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands (2004): B+". nickschager.com, 9 June 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2021
- Abele, Robert. Review: Pusher II. Los Angeles Times, 2 November 2006. Retrieved 30 January 2021
- "Pusher 3". Rotten Tomatoes.
- Lee, Nathan (August 18, 2006). "Film in Review; The Pusher Trilogy". The New York Times.