Pusher

Pusher immerses you in the grim underworld of Copenhagen in the 1990s. In this explosive crime drama by director Nicolas Winding Refn, we follow drug dealer Frank, who experiences a hellish week after a crucial heroin deal ends in catastrophe. He is caught by the police and dumps his goods in a lake. The result? A sky-high debt to the ruthless Balkan drug lord Milo. 

What follows is a desperate race against time to raise money in the seedy underbelly of the city, and as Milo increases the pressure and the debt, Frank sinks deeper and deeper into misery. The intense Pusher avoids predictability and is an unvarnished look at the fringes of society. Thanks in part to the 16mm camera work and authentic dialogue, it feels so realistic that it could be a documentary.

Pusher is the first part of a trilogy of completely independent films. This modern classic received a nomination for best restored film at last year's Venice Film Festival. It marks both the acting debut of Mads Mikkelsen (as Tonny, Frank's manic partner) and the directorial debut of Nicolas Winding Refn, also known for Drive (2011) and Valhalla Rising (2009). Mikkelsen can also be seen in his most recent role, in The Last Viking (Anders Thomas Jensen, 2025), during the Northern Film Festival.