Pusher

Frank is a small-time drug dealer in Copenhagen who works for a Serbian trafficker named Milo. When a plan to sell a large consignment of heroin to Swedish buyers goes wrong, the police arrive and Frank is forced to abandon the drugs and the money. He escapes arrest but loses everything, leaving him with a debt to Milo that he has no way to repay. As Milo's patience runs out and his enforcer Radovan makes the consequences clear, Frank looks for money wherever he can find it, including from people he has avoided for years. The one bright point in his life is Vic, a woman he cares about whose own addiction complicates things.

This crime drama is the feature debut of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, who co-wrote it with Jens Dahl and also produced it alongside Henrik Danstrup. Refn continued with Bleeder, Fear X, and the later films Pusher II and Pusher 3. Kim Bodnia plays Frank, with Mads Mikkelsen as his associate Tonny, Laura Drasbæk as Vic, Zlatko Burić as Milo, and Slavko Labović as Radovan.

Made for a modest budget, the film became the starting point of a long directing career. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from around 51,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7 from roughly 920 votes. The critics' rating of 7 from 18 reviews is close to the audience scores, indicating broad agreement. The 110-minute film blends crime and action with drama.