Pusher Trilogy (1996, 2004, 2005) Arrow Player Review
This December, ARROW presents the Pusher trilogy, a white-knuckle, nerve-shattering plunge into the Danish criminal underworld from uncompromising director Nicolas Winding Refn (DRIVE, ONLY GOD FORGIVES).
1996’s critically acclaimed PUSHER was Winding Refn’s first film, and also the screen debut of Mads Mikkelsen (ANOTHER ROUND), who would go on to star in the 2004 follow-up PUSHER II; while PUSHER III concentrates on Milo, the Serbian drug lord from the first two films, played by Zlatko Burić (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS).
PUSHER
A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
Kim Bodnia stars as drug dealer Frank who runs foul of a drug lord and as things escalate out of his control, he finds no support in his plight as both his sidekick Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) and casual girlfriend Vic (Laura Drasbæk) ditch him to fend for himself. PUSHER started off life as a five-minute short which the director then made into a full-length independent film.
Shot entirely on hand-held cameras PUSHER captures the grubbiness of Frank’s surroundings in an almost documentary-style fashion. It reminds of a time when filmmakers weren’t afraid to make their mark on their own terms. It morphs into a violent chase movie during its latter stages coming to an abrupt, bleak end that satisfies.
PUSHER II
Tonny is released from prison – again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken-down life, but that is easier said than done.
Narratively there’s nothing new about seeing an ex-convict looking to change his ways when released only to discover that his old life keeps pulling at him to return. Mikkelsen’s performance is multi-layered and realistic and complements the film’s ‘fly-on-the-wall’ approach. It makes for as compelling a watch as the original as does the film that comes next and concludes the trilogy.
PUSHER III
Milo tries to be a family man and run his criminal organisation, but a wrong drug shipment endangers everything.
Winding Refn pulls no punches with his concluding third film in the PUSHER Trilogy. As with Mikkelsen in the middle instalment, Zlatko Burić nails the world-weariness of Milo as he copes with another drug-based mishap that spirals out of control. It all ends with one of the grisliest scenes I have ever seen that proved yukky to my senses back at the time of this film’s release and still now almost twenty years later.
Pusher Trilogy will be available on ARROW from 20th December.