Film rating: 2/5
Walkouts: 1/5
Pretentious clapping at credits: 0/5
BPM sighting: Yes

A furious, hyper-realistic window into the very bottom of the Copenhagen underworld, the blockbuster hit Pusher, the debut feature from its 25-year-old director, was instrumental in putting Danish cinema back on the international map post-Dogma.

It tells the story of Frank (Kim Bodia), a grunting, down-on-his-luck pusher who defaults on a major deal after his dim-witted friend Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) turns him into the cops. The consequences prove to be dire.

Propulsive, kinetic and constantly threatening to spiral out of control, this film is tough-minded and sharp, satirising the twisted conservatism of its criminal denizens.

Think Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in Danish and without the rhyming slang. This genre film of gangster cliches was not exactly the Dogme killer it was hyped to be. In fact, Pusher nearly satisfied half of the rules of Dogme filmmaking (1, 3, 4, 5). But if you’re going to make a gritty gangster film then the visual style should be gritty too — and this was one of the film’s redeeming factors. However, the film ended frustratingly with no ending and cynics (The Editor) would note the perfect lead-in to the film’s two sequels.