Pusher



Pusher is a Danish crime film written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. At the time of its release, a Danish crime film was quite novel, and its popularity had a great influence on Danish films to follow. In this respect, it was something akin to the Pulp Fiction of Denmark. Two sequels, filmed back-to-back, followed almost ten years later to rescue Refn's ailing film company from bankruptcy. Each sequel follows a different character introduced in the first film.

The first film follows Frank, a mid-level Copenhagen drug dealer. After a drug deal gone bad, Frank finds himself deeply in debt to Milo, a local Serbian drug lord. As Frank struggles to find the money, he must also grapple with complications from his would-be girlfriend and the dubious loyalty of his partner, Tonny. The second film picks up with Tonny after he completes a prison sentence and returns to his estranged father's chop shop. Tonny struggles to earn his father's respect in the underworld and be there for his own son. The third film follows a day in the life of Milo, who struggles with preparations for his overbearing daughter's birthday while fighting off Albanian drug dealers and his own lurking addiction.


 * Affably Evil: Milo and Radovan in the first film. Milo cooks for Frank and Radovan shares a pleasant conversation with him. Once they're crossed, however, the affability quickly vanishes.
 * The Aggressive Drug Dealer: In Pusher 3 Kurt insists that Milo take some heroin, knowing that Milo is a recovering addict. He does this in vengeance for Milo's actions in the second film.
 * Ascended Extra: The short weight-lifter in the first film is promoted to Milo's future son-in-law in the third film. Branko, one of Milo's various hoods, is promoted to his dragon in the third film, though he drops out midway through the film.
 * A Simple Plan
 * Batter Up: Frank takes a baseball bat to the head of
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Big Bad Friend:
 * Cold-Blooded Torture:
 * Country Matters: A particularly worthless pimp is called Kurt the Cunt (Kusse-Kurt in Danish). Truth in Television, as this was the actor's real nickname. The director met him while researching a 12 step program.
 * Daddy's Little Villain: In Pusher 3, we discover that Milo's daughter clearly wears the pants in the family. She barks orders at her flustered father during her birthday celebration. When she discovers that Milo is forcing her boyfriend to buy his heroin for distribution, she tells her father to lower his price. What a family!
 * Demoted to Extra: Milo only pops in for a scene in the second film, though he majorly screws over Tonny and Kurt in the process. Kurt only pops in for a single scene in the third film, though he majorly screws over Milo in the process.
 * Downer Ending:.
 * Disposable Sex Worker: In Pusher 2, Kurt
 * Disposing of a Body: A particularly graphic example in the end of Pusher 3, where Milo
 * The Dragon: Radovan for Milo in the first film. Branko in the third film, though he's out with food poisoning for most of the film. This prompts Radovan to make a spectacular return as a Torture Technician.
 * Dragon Their Feet: Milo's terrible cooking in the third film causes his whole gang to get food poisoning, leaving him to his own devices for the remainder of the film.
 * Dramatis Personae: Each film opens with a montage introducing the major characters, set to a pounding rock beat. Each character is harshly lit from above as they glare at the camera.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Drop the Hammer:
 * Evil Chef: Milo. His crime lair is a restaurant and he likes to feed his criminal associates his creations. He's actually a pretty terrible cook.
 * Guns Akimbo: Frank is briefly seen holding two handguns after He doesn't actually fire them though, it's just for intimidation.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Frank and Tonny.
 * Insistent Terminology: Frank's first buyer repeatedly asks to be called "Scorpion", apparently because he thinks it makes him sound tough. It doesn't.
 * Imagine Spot:
 * It Got Worse: Each film is a slow decline for the main character.
 * Lethal Chef: The Evil Chef Milo accidentally gives his goons food poisoning with his cooking, leaving him to his own devices during a gang conflict.
 * The Loins Sleep Tonight: Tonny in Pusher 2.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown
 * Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Milo and his gang of Serbians in the first film. In the third, Milo runs into an even worse gang of Albanians.
 * Torture Technician: Radovan.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Tonny's motivation in the second film.