Pusher Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Though it focuses on Milo (Zlatko Buric), a Yugoslav drug dealer familiar to anyone who has seen Pusher and Pusher II, the series' most recent installment takes place in a different world than the two previous films. Milo may only be a couple of rungs up the narcotics trade ladder from Frank and Tonny, but he lives the life of a respectable businessman, and as a result is light years from the hardscrable universe occupied by those men.

In place of the dingy, tiny apartments occupied by the characters in the previous films, Milo owns a spacious, pristine flat in the suburbs, complete with an enclosed backyard. When he drives through the city, the buildings literally look cleaner and more modern, and the sun a little brighter. Though he, like Frank and Tonny, relies primarily on drugs sales for his income, Milo also owns a small club, a business that seems stable and well-established. In addition, he actually has pocket money -- none of the day-to-day, hour-to-hour desperation experienced by those below him in the food chain for Milo. Instead, he pays cash for major incidental expenses, and can afford to both rent out a restaurant for his beloved daughter Milena's (Marinela Dekic) 25th birthday and hire what appears to be a party-planner for the occasion, as well.

Pusher III: I'm the Angel of Death opens somewhere the series has never ventured before: An NA meeting. Milo is there, reporting with absolute sincerity and commitment that he is on his fifth day -- this time -- without drugs. Though his focus at that moment is on Milena's upcoming party, he sincerely wants to be through with drugs forever -- when the meeting closes with the serenity prayer, followed by a shouted hope to return the following day, Milo's participation is full and heartfelt. Apart from a short interlude extracting smuggled ecstasy from a van just arrived from Holland, he looks for all the world like a normal, upper-class father, concerned about work and pleasing his spoiled daughter.

Frank (Kim Bodnia), the protagonist of Nicolas Winding Refn's debut feature Pusher, was a likable everyman who also happened to be a drug dealer in a lot of trouble. In that film, Frank's associate and sometime-friend Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen, soon to be seen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale) seemed to be a bird of a different feather: His shaved head (complete with "RESPECT" tattooed across its back), lithe body and careless attitude suggested a man who wanted to be seen as a tough customer -- someone to be feared. In reality, though, Tonny was more interested in drinking with his friends and talking about sex than actually taking part in the violent, dangerous life that surrounded him. Despite his efforts to the contrary, he looked more like a naïve kid out for adventure than he did a hardened criminal.

In Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands, Tonny is forced to the foreground, and proves himself to be both more and less than he seemed. In the years between the two films, Tonny has grown from a scrawny, energetic kid into a strangely vacant adult, completely lost within his own life. The movie opens with him on the receiving end of a jailhouse monologue about how fear is the only thing that separates those who run the world from the sorry masses; once fear is conquered, one can do anything. Tonny listens blankly, the relevance of the story lost on him. Instead of comprehending what he hears, he simply stares until the speaker mentions the money Tonny owes him. Because the man knows and respects Tonny's father -- known to everyone as the Duke -- he's willing to work with Tonny to pay back the debt. Otherwise, he would not be so kind. The problem is solved when Tonny, clearly at his debtor's bidding, starts a prison-yard fight that results in him being outnumbered and badly beaten. Though Tonny's initial attack was brave, his wild flight afterwards was not; his fear remains firmly in control.

Originally released nearly a decade ago in its native Denmark, Pusher is a breathtaking film. Planned as an independent, no-budget feature by director Nicolas Winding Refn, the project changed shape when Balboa Films offered him financing: Gone are the 16mm film and the amateur actors, replaced by vivid color and seasoned professionals. What remains, however, is Refn's sensibility, and the resulting work -- his feature debut as a director -- is an enthralling combination of the shocking, the sensational and the matter-of-fact.

Pusher tells the story of a terrible week in the life of Frank (Kim Bodnia), a small-time drug dealer. When times are good, Frank spends almost all of his time with Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen), his right-hand man and apparent best friend; Tonny is the classic street tough who looks much harder -- manic grin, "RESPECT" tattooed on the back of his shaved head -- than he acts. On the best of days, the two drive around laughing, talking about women and selling drugs to people so beaten-down they live in terror of displeasing Frank and Tonny; on the worst days, there is bloodshed, fear and betrayal. As the week begins, the friends go about their everyday business, doing deals here and there and traveling the city like care-free kids, joking and taking real pleasure in their mutual friendship. In addition to working as a unit, the two party together as well, boozing with the same good-humored grumbling that helps them through the day.