Pusher III (2005)

By the third entry in the Pusher series, there’s an assumed narrative trajectory and familar story pattern: the camera follows the protagonist as they slowly start to get in over their heads with deals and debts. Yet it’s interesting across the three movies how the tone is still uniquely set by the lead character and […]

Pusher II (2004)

Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands (2004) is the movie I thought Pusher was going to be. Scenes set in red-lit brothels, tense heists, and a coiled intensity to its main actor. Nicolas Winding Refn’s sequel spins-off to stick a supporting character in the lead, the shit-talking thug, Tonny (played by Mads Mikkelsen). Released […]

Pusher (1996)

I’ve had friends recommend the Pusher trilogy to me for a long time and even though I am a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn, I never got around to the Danish crime films that made his name internationally. With Pusher (1996), I was surprised by how low-fi it was in contrast to what Refn is now known for as […]

The Fourth Man (1983)

I realised I’d never seen any pre-Hollywood Paul Verhoeven Dutch movies so I sat down with The Fourth Man (1983), which is a pretty nutty erotic thriller in the post-Hitchcock mould. Better known to me as the go-to actor for European dodgy guys in American movies like No Mercy and The Fugitive, Jeroen Krabbé plays […]