Are you collecting scars or what?
Movies
It’s pretty much Quentin Tarantino’s fault. He didn’t invent
the heist movie or the drug film, but 1992’s Reservoir Dogs and 1994’s Pulp
Fiction arguably put the breathlessness back into two of cinema’s more
played-out clichรฉs and set the stage for countless imitators. Luckily, though,
for every overrated Guy Ritchie we’re forced to endure, there’s a Nicolas
Winding Refn just waiting to be discovered. Refn is the Danish filmmaker behind the violent, tragic,
and clever Pusher trilogy, offered
this weekend at the Dryden Theatre during two ass-challenging sessions.
While Denmark was all abuzz during the mid ’90s with Lars
von Trier’s minimalist Dogme movement, Refn made 1996’s Pusher, a dizzyingly shot piece of
cinema that borrows very heavily from the chatty brutality of Tarantino and,
though perfectly satisfying, adds nothing new to its genre. Pusher focuses on a week in the life of
Frank (the Tom Sizemore-ish Kim Bodnia),
a mid-level drug dealer managing the careful preparation for and unplanned
aftermath of a big score. At Frank’s side is dopey henchpalTonny (the awesome MadsMikkelsen, soon to be seen as the bad guy in the upcoming Casino Royale), and when Frank and Tonny aren’t frittering away their time driving, hustling,
and discussing gash, they’re in negotiations with Milo (ZlatkoBuric), a convivial Serbian drug lord who becomes
much less friendly when money has gone astray. The story evolves as you might
expect it to, with outfoxing, betrayal, and vicious retribution.
Now, most sequels don’t veer too far from the tried-and-true
formula of their source material, but when Refn
decided to revisit his first film after eight years for 2004’s Pusher
II: With Blood On My Hands, he chose to focus on Mikkelsen’sTonny, and what could have been another ultra-hip
crime flick is instead a heartbreaking character study of a complete loser. As Pusher II opens Tonny
is returning home after a stint in the pokey to a
cruelly disapproving father, so he resumes his outlaw way of life in an attempt
to win his criminal father’s respect. Tonny’s
clueless desperation is painful to watch, and possible salvation appears in the
form of a surprise son of his own, courtesy of a former flame. But this ain’tHollywood; it’s Copenhagen, and Refn has no intention of letting Tonny
— or his audience — off the hook. Pusher
II, like its predecessor, ends on a vague note and sets the stage for the
three-quel.
But not really.Refn
swerves into yet another direction for 2005’s Pusher III: I’m the Angel of
Death, a black comedy about a day in the life of Buric’sMilo, the kingpin from the first Pusher who also pops up in the second
for a second. Now a member of Narcotics Anonymous despite his line of work, Milo is busy preparing for his bossy daughter’s 25th
birthday party when a wealth of Ecstasy crosses his path. But Milo is older
now, with a young Turk (literally) angling for his
business, and everything comes to a head during the celebration when the
now-relapsed Milo must contend with spoiled
food, missing drugs, and an impolite Polish whore broker. Easily the funniest of
the three films, Pusher III is also
the goriest, which is saying a lot considering the copious bloodletting that
came before. Pusher III’s denouement is essentially a
how-to in efficient corpse removal, reminding us that a garbage disposal is for
more than just orange peels as long as you take that extra minute to untangle
the intestines.
More companion pieces than follow-ups, the Pusher films are exceedingly stylish (Refn obviously favors long, unbroken takes a la Scorsese)
and well-acted, with Mikkelsen and Buric as the standouts, having had the luxury of fleshing
out their juicy roles. And the trilogy definitely lends itself to a viewing in
one stretch: the ravages of time on Tonny and Milo are better appreciated, and seemingly insignificant
characters that may have been forgotten about with space between films are more
easily recalled. Refn has reportedly alluded to
additional Pusher films, but unlike
other filmmakers — with the possible exception of Tarantino himself —
there’s no telling where he might go with them.
Pusher (NR) screens Saturday, October 28, at 4 p.m. and Sunday,
October 29, at 3 p.m.; Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands (NR) shows Saturday, October 28, at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 29, at 5:15
p.m.; Pusher III: I’m the Angel of Death (NR), shows Saturday, October 28, at
9 p.m. and Sunday, October 29, at 7 p.m.;all screenings are at the George
Eastman House’s Dryden Theatre. Regular admission prices apply for individual
screenings, but all three films can be had as an unbroken trilogy for $10.
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2006.
