I am Gerry. I love movies. Sometimes I make them.
The story of a serious scumbag. “Pusher” takes that gamble of having a protagonist who is completely unlikeable, but thankfully the risk pays off due to Refn’s assured hand as director. A high-energy, high-stakes film in which the quick dialogue and escalating plot makes the running time soar by.
A stronger film than the original and one whose scenes haunted me long after. Refn flips the formula he used for the first film to focus on a sympathetic protagonist trapped in a toxic environment. Tonny’s surroundings, his family and “friends” continue his downward spiral into drugs and depravity, so much so, that despite all of his mistakes, you can’t help but feel for him.
The final and strongest effort in Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” trilogy. Following recovering drug-addict/drug-dealer, Milo, “Pusher III” hit me on a an emotional and visceral level that the previous entries didn’t. The last fifteen minutes are hard to stomach, but they are some extremely powerful cinema.
I’ve decided to make my way through Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s filmography as I await the release of “Drive” here in Latin America. After watching the “Pusher Trilogy,” I checked out this sideshow biopic of the United Kingdom’s most famous criminal. Refn never attempts to understand or explain the insanity that is Michael Gordon Peterson, rather he seems content on stepping back and letting actor Tom Hardy chew the scenery. With this strategy, Refn and Hardy allow you to see a common thug turn his crime into performance art in a highly stylized fashion.
While it’s looking less and less like “Drive” will be coming to El Salvador, I’ve still been committed to seeing as much of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s filmography as possible. Refn’s Viking acid trip blends elements of Leone and Herzog for a concoction that’s probably as bizzare as that sounds. Read Salon.com’s Andrew O’Heir’s review and comparison of Refn to Christopher Nolan.
“Drive” is a true triumphant of style over substance and I don’t mean that as a slight. By combining elements of Walter Hill’s, “The Driver,” and other minimal 1970s films and infusing them with an even greater sense of European style, Refn delivers a movie that feels both familiar and contemporary. While it never tops the incredible opening scene and credit sequence, Refn crafts a mood and a world that is both extremely attractive and eerily haunting. This song has been in my head all day.
What’s interesting about this whole thing is [this]: a director doesn’t have to be an expert in anything, but he has to know a little bit about everything. That “everything” includes financing and global economics, directing actors, setting up camera and lighting, reading cost reports, moving money around — every little thing you need to know a little bit about.
