Nicolas Winding Refn is becoming a larger name every year due to his recent success as a director, but it all started with one very, very good set of films: Pusher.
Pusher, released in 1996, follows a low ranking drug dealer, Frank (Kim Bodnia) during his day-to-day activities pushing various drugs alongside his friend and associate Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) in the Danish city of Copenhagen. All seems well for a while, they're going about their ways and business is good in the world of drugs.
Being employed by a high-level drug king, however, certainly leads to things spiralling way out of control and into utter chaos: Frank and Tonny get into a large deal offer, and Frank gets into a car that is then driven into the city. From here things are already quite sketchy, and as a viewer you get that uneasy feeling of dread. Kim Bodnia's performance as Frank heightens that uneasy feeling excellently. In an absolutely beautifully shot scene, the car is stopped by the police and that feeling of dread hits you as the pace suddenly increases and turns into a chase on foot. Frank sprints to the nearby river and dumps all of the drugs into the water, ensuring that ultimately the police have no actual evidence of him holding or pushing drugs at that present time. This results in all of the drugs gone, but no charges on Frank.
The feeling of dread is only amplified from here on in the film, as those drugs weren't just a loss of income for Frank, but a huge loss for his boss, Milo (Zlatko Burić). During their next meeting, Frank is told that he owes Milo not only the cost of the drugs, but more. He's given an incredibly short time to find the money.
Pusher is a film of heightened emotion. It's one in which nothing good happens to the protagonist. The narrative unfolds in a manner that introduces the perception that things might turn out alright for Frank as he comes up with potential leads for the money, but as we see him pursue those leads, they fall flat. Desperation begins to kick in and that feeling of dread just further increases. Frank is simply a low-level dealer, he's not capable of taking drastic actions: robbing banks, killing, torturing. He discovers how deep in he has become in a world that really does not suite him. What started off with pushing drugs to other low-level dealers has led to a living hell in which his life is completely at risk at any moment.
He discovers that his friends aren't friends. They're all in it for themselves. If you get into any trouble, you're bound to be cut off immediately. It's all up to you to figure out how to fix the problem, which for Frank, he just can't seem to figure out. The film remains incredibly grounded in the sense that the option of going all-out to kill Milo and his associates is far too dangerous and unrealistic. While that certainly crosses his mind during desperate times, Frank is stuck. There's really no way out of this, no matter how close he may seem to be.
Pusher is a film of never-ending tension. One in which it has you rooting for what society often perceives as scum, the very bottom of the barrel. It shows a realistic look into a world filled with drug addiction and crime, where you're never really free, and someone always owes someone something. Friendships are a facade, and each person is only in it for their own personal gain. A world riddled with greed, deception, and loneliness. That is the life of a Pusher.
