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Pusher
R0 - Australia - Accent Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th February 2007). |
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The Film
 Frank (Kim Bodnia) is a mid-level drug dealer in Copenhagen who spends his time hanging out with his friend Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) getting high and selling drugs. When he's double crossed on a large deal he is left owing money to sadistic Balkan gangster Milo (Zlatko Buric) for drugs he no longer has to sell. What follows is the worst week of his life as he desperately tries to pay off his mounting debt. I had heard a lot of praise for this film over the years and I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. Made in 1996, Nicolas Winding Refn's first feature (based on a five minute short film) on the surface looks like dozens of crime thrillers that came along in the wake of Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Up until about the half hour mark I was writing this film off as another one of these, until I realized the characters and their situations had really grown on me. Filmed in a gritty documentary style "Pusher" starts at quite a slow pace to show Frank's mundane and seedy life but steadily draws you in as the story becomes increasingly compelling. Once Frank starts his frantic race to pay off his debt the tension grows as his desperation does, ending on an unexpected but interesting note. Kim Bodnia is outstanding as Frank who starts out as almost second fiddle to Tonny. He seemingly needs him as muscle and is even the butt of his jokes, but after a pivotal point in the story it becomes clear that he has been just as dangerous all along. Frank's repeated inability to communicate with or trust anyone is what causes all his problems though. The three supporting parts are almost equally well played. While Zlatko Buric as Milo and Laura Drasbęk as Vic (Frank's caring hooker girlfriend) are impressive it is Mads Mikkelsen who is most memorable. He is both annoying and funny as Tonny, the junkie/pusher with a really short temper and RESPECT tattooed on the back of his head. This was his debut and he has since gone on to become one of Denmark's biggest starts appearing in such Danish films as "Open Hearts" (2002) and "Pusher II" (2004). He has also appeared in English language releases "King Arthur" (2004) and as La Chiffre in "Casino Royale" (2006), the latest Bond film. I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes crime movies but it definitely deserves its "R" rating. The violence is pretty extreme and not for the squeamish. Although the packaging states that this disc is Region 4 encoded it is actually Region 0.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.66:1 this anamorphic image is not the best and the limitations of 16mm film are apparent in this transfer. Blown up to 35mm the film features some heavy grain and combined with compression for DVD presentation the result is a print that features a lot of visual noise. The image is entirely distracting to watch especially on a large TV. The overall transfer is soft, lacking in detail, blacks exhibit the most noise and appears murky. It's safe to say that this transfer is flat and unimpressive. Now on the flip-side, the film was shot in a way so as to represent the grittiness of the subject matter, but frankly I've seen better transfers made from 16mm sources.
Audio
A single Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track is included in the film's original language of Danish, as far as this film is concerned this is a competent track that presents the dialogue cleanly and without distortion. The film's music comes out well and the overall quality of the track is quite decent despite the lack of depth and range. Optional subtitles are included in English and I could not spot any spelling of grammatical errors.
Extras
Accent have only included the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 30 seconds as well as a collection of bonus trailers for this release that include: - "Pusher II" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - "Pusher 3" which runs for 1 minute 29 seconds.
Overall
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