Pusher

Drug deals, fights and murder are at the forefront of most crime films, but what does this underrated franchise do differently?

Perhaps not surprisingly, a crime film focusing more on character than action won’t always generate a huge pool of data and that’s certainly what we found with the Pusher franchise. The FilmAttic aim however is to bring the best franchises to your attention and they won’t always be the ones full of car chases, explosions, shootings and deaths.

What we like about the Pusher series is that despite low statistics the events which do happen often have more impact than the plentiful supply in other franchises. For example, the collective three murders in Pusher II and Pusher III easily have more shock value and emotional impact than the 42 kills in the Scream franchise and that’s because the writer/director, Nicolas Winding Refn took his time to establish characters who appeared to be real struggling people.

Pusher and the remake Pusher (UK) use a powerful image of the main character holding two guns towards the camera. What’s odd is that the original Pusher includes no scenes where this happens and Pusher (UK) has a scene where he is holding two guns but never actually fires them. It seems that the filmmakers thought that audiences would be drawn in by double handed gun action even if they weren’t actually providing any in the movies content.

If you would like to see a franchise which is raw, violent, sometimes hilarious and completely immersive then Pusher may fit the bill. Under Winding Refn’s authorship in particular these are some of the most immersive crime films ever made.