Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher Trilogy

Had them in my Prime queue for some time but the first installment left Prime yesterday and the last two are set to leave July 4th so I figured I'd better get a move on.

Pusher (1996) focuses on Frank (Kim Bodnia) a mid level drug dealer in Copenhagen, Denmark. He and his manic sidekick Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen in his film debut) aimlessly while away their hours buying and reselling various types of illicit narcotics. It's weird because in the drug dealing milieu of movies like Superfly, New Jack City and Carlito's Way the dealer usually has an endgame in mind. But a goal is never even alluded to and the two don't really come off as partners. They don't even appear to like each other much so there are no bonds of loyalty that the script can topple in the second act. It's all just dark, violent and random acts. The films refusal to romanticize the drug trade is it's greatest strength and main draw.

Through a series of misfortunes, double crosses and his own careless actions, Frank eventually ends up in debt to a ruthless Serbian drug lord named Milo (Zlatko Burić). The rest of the film details his inexorable descent.

85/100


Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands (2004) - This one turns it's focus to Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen), Franks old sidekick. As the movie opens he's just been released from prison for some unspecified crime. The first place he goes to is his father Smeden's (Leif Sylvester) garage. His nickname is The Duke and he's a feared and respected gangster in his own right. He deals mostly in stolen cars and provides seed money for other criminal ventures. He's openly derisive of Tonny and has long considered him a screwup, focusing his attention on Tonny's ten year old half brother Valdemar. Tonny finds out that he may have fathered a child with a local woman and being a basically good hearted guy comes to care for the child.

Kurt, a friend of Tonny's, ropes him into coming along on a drug buy where Serbian crime boss Milo shows up. Through a paranoid fueled misunderstanding, Kurt ends up losing the product and is unable to repay his backer who happens to be The Duke. Kurt has manipulated Tonny so as to shield him from retaliation from his father. He in turn demands the money from his son and Tonny offers to rough up Valdemar's mother who runs a local brothel. She's been demanding full custody and The Duke agrees to let Tonny work off his debt but only if he gets rid of her permanently.


90/100


Pusher III: I'm the Angel of Death (2005) - The final chapter sort of brings it full circle and features the only character who appeared in all three films, Serbian crime lord Milo played by Zlatko Burić. He does a great job with the role and if he looks familiar it's because you saw him in 2012 where he played John Cusack's Russian oligarch boss Yuri Karpov. Here Milo is middle aged and he's living through an especially hectic day where he's volunteered to cook for the 50 guests at his demanding daughter Milena's (Marinela Dekić) 25th birthday celebration.

On top of that the five day sober Milo leaves a Narcotics Anonymous meeting to take delivery of a heroin shipment and finds that his Albanian suppliers have sent him 10,000 Ecstasy pills. Refn uses characters from the other two movies and one of these is Muhammed (Ilyas Agac) who was in part II. Milo has never sold Ecstasy so after he gives his crew food poisoning from one of his dishes he must depend on Muhammad to sell off the pills.

The storyline mirrors the one in the first Pusher movie with events conspiring to put Milo in debt to Albanian boss Luan and his dirtbag interpreter Rexho. It all leads to a visceral burst of violence followed by a gruesomely straightforward sequence that some might have trouble with. It closes on a quiet note with a subdued Milo lost in contemplation and starting to tune in to what the world has been trying to tell him.

90/100

Just brilliant. Seen it several times. So many incredible scenes. Love the scene when

I think I like the first part of the trilogy best, but all 3 parts are terrific. It’s a masterpiece IMO.

I couldn't agree more. I fully plan on watching these again in the near future. I'm hoping they just move to another streaming service.

I've now seen seven of Refn's films and his miniseries Too Old to Die Young. Fear X and The Neon Demon are also available on Prime and I'll be watching those soon. Needless to say I'm a fan of his work.

I have Pusher in my dvd collection.

I've now seen seven of Refn's films and his miniseries Too Old to Die Young. Fear X and The Neon Demon are also available on Prime and I'll be watching those soon. Needless to say I'm a fan of his work.

I've seen the Pusher trilogy...intense. Bleeder is too. Fear X is a very confusing and disorientating film. Good though. Now 6 years since NWF made a cinema release?

I think Refn's best film is Valhalla Rising.

Excellent film and the first movie from him that I watched.

Mikey and Nicky - 10/10
This made my #20 on my Top 250. Probably the 5th time I've seen this. And today was by accident. I woke up at 4am, restless, so I went online to talk. This woman said she wanted to watch a movie. I told her I not only had recommendations, but YouTube links. I gave her this particular movie, and then thought, "I'll watch it, too" and hoping we'd have something new to talk about, hopefully getting the rest of the live chat room to start talking about movies. She didn't, but I did.

I LOVED this movie...have to constantly remind myself that Elaine May directed it, not sure why.

1st Rewatch...There's a lot of love for this movie on this site and a lot of people thought my original review was a little harsh so I decided a rewatch was in order and I'm so glad I did. Peter Bogdanovich directed this nutty and fast paced film version of a play by Michael Frayn that follows a theatrical troupe during the out of town tryouts for a new play and how offstage romances and rivalries practically destroy the production. I liked this movie a lot more the second time around, I don't know why. Bogdanovich's lightning-paced direction and a brilliant, all-star ensemble cast combine to make this a pretty funny movie. It gets a little exhausting during the final act, but there are few contemporary films that feature more brilliant physical comedy than this one. I love the set of the play within the movie and the cast are well-oiled machine. Michael Caine, John Ritter, and especially Christopher Reeve do standout work but the cast works as a unit. I am upping my original rating.

I think Refn's best film is Valhalla Rising.