PUSHER (55)

Directed by: Nikolas Winding Refn

Starring: Kim Bodnia, Zlatko Buric, Laura Drasbaek, Slavko Labovik

The Pitch: A small-time Copenhagen drug-dealer gets in way over his head on a heroin deal, and desperately tries to wheel and deal his way out of trouble.

Theo Sez: Characters introduced in one-word captions, an opening Steadicam down a grimy city street, percussive rock on the soundtrack - ring a bell? Both more and (mostly) less than a Danish TRAINSPOTTING, on the one hand because the range of characters is wider (much of it is closer to a straight crime movie) and compassion is allowed a fleeting appearance (a Serbian thug confides his dream of quitting the muscle-man business and opening a restaurant) but also, on the other, because invention flags after a while, and the style isn't really stylish enough - grungy sound effects, whip-pans from person to person, that kind of stuff. Laddishness very much to the fore, especially in the early scenes - our hero and his mate (who's got "RESPECT" tattooed on the back of his head) pick up chicks, compare notes on fellatios past, talk about which TV presenters they'd like to bonk - but the best moments are the quieter, bleaker ones, our man sitting in a dim, dingy room trying to think his way out of the mess he's in as his girlfriend unceremoniously shoots up behind him. Visually effective, grey-green daylight alternating with hellishly dark interiors splashed with neon puddles, dramatically strong but a little suspect : both the quirkiness (an avuncular villain who likes baking cakes) and the flip, pitch-black cynicism (Frank betrayed by all his friends, then by his girl as well) feel a little forced.