Pusher III (2005)

Pusher III: Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. With Zlatko Buric, Marinela Dekic, Slavko Labovic, Ramadan Huseini. Milo tries to be a family man and run his criminal organization, but a wrong drug shipment endangers everything.

“Come take a look at the violence and depravity that goes on in … Copenhagen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCopenhagen? Yup. But this is pretty effinu0026#39; far from Hans Christian Anderson and the Little Mermaid.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie caps Nicolas Winding Refnu0026#39;s gangster trilogy and veers off in a somewhat different direction from the first two. u0026quot;Pusher Iu0026quot; and u0026quot;Pusher IIu0026quot; were tense and violent movies about the Danish drug trade, but both had an element of comedy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy contrast, Pusher III is one of the darkest movies Iu0026#39;ve ever seen and it has an extended scene at the end that would never, ever be allowed in a mainstream Hollywood gangster movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePusher III happens in a 24-hour period as we follow along with Milo, a mid-level drug kingpin who is apparently a Serb. Milo has a busy day ahead of him. His daughteru0026#39;s 25th birthday is that evening and heu0026#39;s promised to cook food for 50 people. His product supplier got shipments mixed up and sent Milo 10,000 ecstasy tabs instead of the usual heroin. Heu0026#39;s withdrawing from heroin himself and drops in at NA meetings during the day. His crew is getting ornery, giving him lip all the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSigh. Itu0026#39;s hard out there for a gangster. You almost feel sorry for the schlub.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThen, when a Polish pimp shows up wanting cash in exchange for a badly frightened 18-year-old girl he has in tow, things start to go bad.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is in no sense of the word an action movie, although there are murders. No guns, either. Itu0026#39;s remarkable how directors from outside the U.S. can take material Americans are completely familiar with and make it look completely different. Take the Korean monster movie u0026quot;The Hostu0026quot; and the Swedish vampire movie u0026quot;Let the Right One In.u0026quot; Familiar material. Brand new take.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Pusher IIIu0026quot;is like that. It has stretches where not much happens. But it builds to a horrifying climax all the more horrifying because it plays out utterly matter of fact.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd props to Zlatko Buric, who plays Milo. The camera is on him for the entire movie and we get to know every seam in his weary face.”