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Pusher

1996 · Film · 110 min

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

ActionCrimeDrama

A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.

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3 comments on Hacker News

  1. Neutrala1oNov 13, 2024

    Reminds me of the Pusher Xfiles episode where the dude just glues a Pass as credentials and it works https://imgur.com/a/7EhqeTc

  2. NeutralmojubaApr 2, 2023

    That, plus Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher trilogy is also canonical Dogme 95. That's before Refn became a mainstream director with his Drive. Despite the fact that most Danish directors have already abandoned Dogme you can still see its influence in their more recent films. I think Dogme 95 can be considered the New Wave Cinema moment of Danish cinematography, it's been incredibly prolific and influential.

  3. PositivesmcinSep 13, 2022

    I object to your tone, and I don't understand why you're taking it with me, or wrongly assuming that I didn't see 'The Deer Hunter'; I did see it. I had heard rave reviews about 'The Deer Hunter' but as things happen, I only got around to seeing it ~15yrs after it was released. It was decent, De Niro and Cazale are standouts, but not as great as the accolades it had been showered with. I like most De Niro (Scorsese, Cimino, or other director), but for a slow-boiler character study of a man's descent into insanity, 'Taxi Driver' (or the little-known but superb Danish film trilogy 'Pusher' (1996-2004-2005)) are IMO far superior. Or maybe even Takeshi Kitano. As far as TDH goes, I think the last chapter suffers a break in coherence, and it doesn't advance the narrative to see De Niro unravel in slow-motion at the end. As far as anti-Vietnam war films go, Bogdanovich's 'Saint Jack' made the point more deftly; we don't necessarily need to see people literally blowing their brains out to get the point that they've been systematically dehumanized. Perhaps it's the Oscar hype machine rather than Cimino's directing that's responsible for the perpetual hype around 'The Deer Hunter', and the lack of hype around Nicolas Winding Refn. In any fair universe, foreign directors like Refn would have won an Oscar for his early work, regardless that it was in Danish; which is a Hollywood attitude that persisted until 'Parasite' (2019).

    Be assured I've "watched old films" aplenty. (I referenced 'Alphaville' above, earlier; and the David Lynch 'Dune'. I was even gong to reference Tarkovsky). My comment wondering if Godard was ever considered to direct 'Dune' is obviously praise for his work.

    Have you seen Pusher Trilogy? or Bogdanovich's 'Saint Jack'? How do you think they compare?

    (Also, 'The Deer Hunter' running time is 3h3m, so the "you can't spend an hour just watching someone else's creation" misassumption is offbase for multiple reasons. Ask questions, rather than make wrong assumptions.)