NEW YORK - Young Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn makes an audacious feature debut with this tale of a small-time criminal caught in a brutal struggle to survive.
Stylishly made and often gripping, the low-budget "Pusher" thankfully lacks the pretentiousness, imitation-Tarantino elements and over-the-top stylization that marked many other recent crime films. Refn, who is already working on his first English-language feature, is clearly a talent to watch out for. The film opens today at New York's Cinema Village.
What's notable about "Pusher" is not its fairly routine subject matter but its controlled intensity. The film is hyper-violent, but not in the cartoon-like manner of something like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." And its central character, Frank (Kim Bodnia) - a thoroughly repugnant, lowlife heroin dealer who nearly beats his best friend to death and is abusive to his long-suffering stripper girlfriend - is never made to seem falsely likable or admirable. It's a testament to the director's skill and to Bodnia's charisma that we find ourselves rooting for him anyway.
The film, set in Copenhagen, spans a several-day period during which Frank, in debt to a local mob figure, becomes increasingly desperate in his attempts to scare up the necessary cash. A drug deal goes sour; he loses the dope and is arrested by the police; he's betrayed by his partner; even his mother can't help him. Frank's decline, which finds him becoming more and more violent in his frenzied attempts to protect himself, is depicted with a fierce, stylistic intensity.
Director Refn, using many hand-held camera shots and a kinetic but not intrusive editing style, keeps the film moving at a relentless, gripping pace. Even if we get the feeling that we've seen this all before - among the many inspirations credited are "Breathless", and "The Long Good Friday" and Scorsese - there's no denying that here is a talented filmmaker with a strong vision and the ability to execute it.
PUSHER
First Run Features
Director:Nicolas Winding Refn
Screenplay:Nicolas Winding Refn, Jens Dahl
Producer:Henrik Danstrup
Executive producers:Peter Aalbaek Jensen, Teddy Gerberg
Director of photography:Morten Soborg
Editor:Anne Osterud
Music:Peter Peter, Povl Kristian Mortensen
Production design:Kim Lovetand Julebaek
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frank:Kim Bodnia
Milo:Zlatko Buric
Vic:Laura Drasbaek
Radovan:Slavko Labovic
Tony:Mads Mikkelsen
Running time - 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Stylishly made and often gripping, the low-budget "Pusher" thankfully lacks the pretentiousness, imitation-Tarantino elements and over-the-top stylization that marked many other recent crime films. Refn, who is already working on his first English-language feature, is clearly a talent to watch out for. The film opens today at New York's Cinema Village.
What's notable about "Pusher" is not its fairly routine subject matter but its controlled intensity. The film is hyper-violent, but not in the cartoon-like manner of something like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." And its central character, Frank (Kim Bodnia) - a thoroughly repugnant, lowlife heroin dealer who nearly beats his best friend to death and is abusive to his long-suffering stripper girlfriend - is never made to seem falsely likable or admirable. It's a testament to the director's skill and to Bodnia's charisma that we find ourselves rooting for him anyway.
The film, set in Copenhagen, spans a several-day period during which Frank, in debt to a local mob figure, becomes increasingly desperate in his attempts to scare up the necessary cash. A drug deal goes sour; he loses the dope and is arrested by the police; he's betrayed by his partner; even his mother can't help him. Frank's decline, which finds him becoming more and more violent in his frenzied attempts to protect himself, is depicted with a fierce, stylistic intensity.
Director Refn, using many hand-held camera shots and a kinetic but not intrusive editing style, keeps the film moving at a relentless, gripping pace. Even if we get the feeling that we've seen this all before - among the many inspirations credited are "Breathless", and "The Long Good Friday" and Scorsese - there's no denying that here is a talented filmmaker with a strong vision and the ability to execute it.
PUSHER
First Run Features
Director:Nicolas Winding Refn
Screenplay:Nicolas Winding Refn, Jens Dahl
Producer:Henrik Danstrup
Executive producers:Peter Aalbaek Jensen, Teddy Gerberg
Director of photography:Morten Soborg
Editor:Anne Osterud
Music:Peter Peter, Povl Kristian Mortensen
Production design:Kim Lovetand Julebaek
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frank:Kim Bodnia
Milo:Zlatko Buric
Vic:Laura Drasbaek
Radovan:Slavko Labovic
Tony:Mads Mikkelsen
Running time - 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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