Drive auteur Nicolas Winding Refn gets an executive producer credit for this remake of his 1996 breakthrough Pusher, giving Spanish director Luis Prieto his blessing to transport the action from Copenhagen to London.
The story follows a hectic week in the life of low level drug dealer Frank (Richard Coyle) who, after a big time drug deal goes bad, finds himself heavily in debt to sinister Turkish crime boss Milo. As Milo’s impatience grows, so does Frank’s desperation to drum up the cash to pay his debts and save his life.
The plot is fairly standard crime fare but Prieto’s rapid editing and pounding techno score provide the film with a frenetic pace that makes Frank’s desperation almost palpable. Many scenes straddle the line between impressively stylish and overcooked, a dance floor fight scene and a heist at a party providing the film’s most memorable scenes.
Key to the film’s success is Richard Coyle’s intense leading performance, coming a long way from his days on ill-fated UK sitcom Coupling. He is suitably menacing and credible as a London tough guy but he really begins to shine once the stakes get higher and Milo begins to close in. Reprising his role from Refn’s original, Zlatko Buric is fantastic, coming across as both friendly and threatening simultaneously.
Also impressive is supermodel Agyness Deyn, appearing in her first feature she provides the film’s only real point of sympathy as Frank’s drug addicted, stripper with a heart of gold girlfriend.
For all of Prieto’s style, Matthew Read‘s script lets him down. While the set up is appealingly simple, the stupid decisions that Frank makes along the way make it very hard to sympathize with him at all, particularly his choice during the film’s climax that will leave you cringing.
Read’s script also leaves many subplots unsolved, dipping into them briefly when it’s convenient but never really finding any closure. Take Frank’s best friend Tony for example, played by Bronson Webb as an Inbetweener gone off the rails, he is a key figure early in the film and disappears completely off the radar for the majority of the film.
Prieto shows a lot of potential with Pusher and if his sensory-overload style could be applied to a more intelligent script, he would have a very interesting film.
EIFF 2012 — count: 12
Festivals — count: 132
