Pusher (1996)

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Movie
German title pusher
Original title pusher
Country of production Denmark
original language Danish , Swedish , Serbo-Croatian
Publishing year 1996
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Nicolas Winding Refn
script Jens Dahl
Nicolas Winding Refn
production Henrik Danstrup
music Povl Kristian
Peter Peter
camera Morten Søborg
cut Anne Østerud
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
Pusher II

Pusher is a Danish film from 1996 set in a drug environment. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn . He was the first major role for Mads Mikkelsen . In Germany, the film title was sometimes given the subheading You don't have a chance - use it! attached.

action

Frank and his best friend Tonny are two well-known, unemployed losers who run amateur drug trafficking . However, they only deal in heroin, which they get on commission from the Serbian gangster Milo. When the police show up at a planned drug deal, Frank has to pour all of the heroin into a lake. This means that the police have nothing against him, but he now owes Milo the money for the drugs. Together with the debts from another drug deal and "interest", Frank Milo now owes 230,000 kroner . Since he makes Tonny responsible for the police action, he beats him badly in a bar and breaks up with him.

Milo gives Frank 48 hours to get the money, which starts a desperate race against time for Frank. He is initially supported by Milos thug Radovan, but later harassed by him. Only the table dancer Vic, with whom Frank has a loose relationship, sticks to him. Frank is always cool and dismissive towards Vic and even reacts violently when she tries to show her feelings. Frank leaves no stone unturned to get the money. Among other things, he tries to collect debts from acquaintances, asks his mother for money and even assaults other gangsters. However, most of these attempts fail miserably. Finally, Frank returns to Milo without having achieved anything, who can then severely abuse him. Frank manages to escape and later steal drugs from a bodybuilder's property. With the money of almost 70,000 kroner that he has now collected, Frank and Vic now want to flee to Spain and go to a discotheque with her. The woman draws hope from this that Frank could have feelings for her and that a new beginning is possible. A phone call with Milo leads Frank to believe that he can settle his debt with almost 70,000 kroner. He cancels the new beginning with Vic. The disappointed Vic steals his money while he is on the phone and flees. Frank is thus again without money.

production

Emergence

The film was originally a ten-minute short film that Winding Refn made as an application for the Danish film school . However, he turned down the school's subsequent offer and decided to turn Pusher into an independent feature film instead , after he was made a funding offer of 6 million crowns.

Refn worked on the film's script with film student Jens Dahl . His goal was to tell the story of a man under pressure without glorifying the life of a drug dealer . Refn laid out the events of the plot in his notes according to the days of the week . After all, this can be found as a stylistic device in the finished film.

Filming

During rehearsals, Refn was dissatisfied with the actor he cast as Frank. He thought it was too mild and boring. Two weeks before filming was due, Winding Refn fired the actor without a replacement. Winding Refn contacted Kim Bodnia , who was already an established actor at the time, and he accepted. Although the rest of the larger roles were cast by experienced actors, some of the smaller parts were given to Winding Refn's friends or people familiar with life on the street.

Bodnia brought a high level of intensity and aggressiveness to the character that some of his colleagues were not prepared for. Winding Refn claims that some cast members' surprised reactions were genuine as they were not rehearsing with Bodnia and expecting the calm performance of the previous actor.

Slavko Labović, who played the Serbian gangster Radovan, was a friend of Željko Ražnatović . He provided a poster of Ražnatović as a prop at Milo's headquarters. The actor Milos, Zlatko Burić, is actually a Croat. The violence that flared up between Serbs and Croats in the Balkans at the time of the filming worried Winding Refn. The events there had no negative impact on the mood on the set.

The film was shot in compliance with Danish trade union rules, which allowed for eight hours of shooting a day and no shooting at all on weekends. The regulations, combined with the high cost of filming permits, caused major time and budget constraints. It was shot entirely with handheld cameras because Winding Refn wanted to capture a realistic, documentary feel. This caused delays in the shooting schedule, and as a result, Winding Refn had to compromise on its desire to keep the film dark. Due to the lack of light, the actors are often backlit.

The film was shot almost entirely in chronological order. Winding Refn later stated that turning it out of chronological order would confuse him. Nevertheless, some scenes were re-shot and added later. The scene in which Frank shoots Milos thugs was originally filmed with no special effects. Winding Refn was dissatisfied with the result and repeated the scene with blank cartridges. The scene featuring the junkie was shot after filming was finished to replace a former scene that dealt with an old, outdated version of Frank's character.

Reviews

“Hard drug thriller striving for authenticity about the dark alleys and failed existences that are prerequisites for this type of crime. The film's considerable potential for violence is particularly shocking because of its realism. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The Danish ' GoodFellas ' version in the coarse-grained, rough underground film look is like a punch in the pit of your stomach. Morten Søborg's hand-held camera images are very close to the characters: broken existences that speak in improvised gutter jargon and, as desperate fighters for survival, are not allowed to show any weaknesses - u. a. Mads Mikkelsen as Tonny with a shaved head and a RESPECT tattoo on the back! In 2005, director Refn shot two sequels that focus on two supporting characters from the first film. […] Conclusion: Danish dynamite! Furious street cinema. "

- Cinema

background

  • The budget of the film was 6 million Danish kroner , which corresponds to about 780,000 euros.

Awards

Sequels and remakes

  • Thanks to the success, two sequels could be filmed, Pusher II (2004, again with Mads Mikkelsen and Zlatko Buric) and Pusher 3 (2005, with Zlatko Buric).
  • In the summer of 2007, mainly appeared England turned remake in Hindi ; The main actor and director was Assad Raja . Mahima Chaudhry played a supporting role. A German publication is not planned.
  • In 2012, Pusher was a British remake of the material.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for pushers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2005 (PDF; test number: 102 695 DVD).
  2. ↑ by Brad Westcott: Crime Pays: An Interview with Nicolas Winding Refn . In: Reverse Shot . ReverseShot.com. 2006. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ Pushers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ Cinema.de: film review
  5. ↑ Pushermovie.com: Pusher - The Movie ( Memento from October 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on June 4, 2008)