The beginning of the end

Venice Classics presents the first chapter of the fateful Pusher trilogy
by Andrea Zennaro
  • saturday, 31 august 2024

In mid-90s Copenhagen, drug dealer Frank navigates the metropolitan underworld among characters living on the fringes of society. Faced with a big deal involving Milo, a Serbian boss, that could change his life, everything falls apart, and he finds himself fighting for survival. In his directorial debut, Nicolas Winding Refn delivers an adrenaline-pumping film for strong stomachs, introducing two extraordinary actors to the screen: Zlatko Burić as the ruthless Milo, who later becomes the protagonist of the third chapter in the trilogy, and Mads Mikkelsen as Tonny, who will be the lead in the second film.

After going bankrupt due to the failure of his two films, Bleeder (1999) and Fear X (2003), NWR decided to direct two sequels to his debut film, allowing him to maintain the creative independence that has become a hallmark of his work. A cinephile director constantly evolving, with this debut he lays the foundation for a filmography that is often surprising and never predictable, drawing inspiration from masters like Scorsese, Ferrara, and Friedkin, while offering an original vision of the small-time losers in the world of crime. In 2012, an English remake of Pusher was released, produced by Refn and directed by Spanish filmmaker Luis Prieto, featuring an entirely British cast, except for Zlatko Burić, who reprised his role as Milo.
Before the restored version of Pusher is screened at the Venice Film Festival, the commercial directed by NWR, Beauty Is Not a Sin, produced by Art+Vibes and starring Laura Grassi and Stefano Gaeta, will be shown.

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