Pusher

Pusher (1996) was Nicolas Winding Refn's first film. He was twenty six and had almost no money. Frank is a mid level drug dealer in Copenhagen. A deal goes wrong and he has one week to find what he owes or he is dead. The film follows that week day by day, and each day is slightly worse than the last. There is none of the stylised surface Refn became known for later. The camera is handheld, the light is whatever was in the room, the scenes play like they were half improvised. Copenhagen here is not the tourist version: dirty stairwells, empty bars, cheap kitchens. This was also Mads Mikkelsen's first feature, playing Tonny, and he is close to unrecognisable. Kim Bodnia makes no attempt to make Frank sympathetic. The man makes stupid decisions and the film never rescues him from them. Two sequels followed, each built around a supporting character from this one, and both are good. Good for: Scandinavian crime, realistic gangster films, and anyone who wants to see where Refn started. Less good for: drug use and violence are shown plainly. If you want something stylish, this is deliberately ugly.