The Pusher Series: The Best Trilogy You've Never Seen 

I finished the trilogy last night.. 10/10 all the way through. Can’t believe it took me this long but I’m so happy I took the time. Incredible.

It's great to see this trilogy get more attention in recent times (I'm guessing as Imprint in Australia recently released it on Blu Ray). I think this is the second video I've seen someone covering it in the last year. Nicolas Winding Refn probably hasn't done anything as good as this since. Although Drive and Bronson are both fantastic as well. I think Pusher 2 set around Mads Mikkelsen's Tonny is masterpiece of the trilogy. I think it helps it has the legend that is Mads Mikkelsen front and center of it. But it's wonderfully shot and more tragic then anything else in the trilogy. Probably along with Drive, Refn's best film imo. Pusher 1 is still a strong watch with a great central performance from Kim Bodnia. And it's a lot more grounded and grimy then the following films in trilogy. Pusher 3 is massively underrated and I love the most dangerous character of the first two films Milo (played brilliantly by Zlatko Buric, who also did English remake of the film and was also great in Triangle of Sadness) is put in a vulnerable position as a recovering addict also fighting agaisnt another gang trying to take over his business, while also trying to sort out his Daughters wedding.It's the bleakest film of the three. Another film I would recommend is Nicolas Winding Refn's follow up to Pusher 1 called Bleeder, it's kind of Refn's love letter to cinema. Also has almost the same cast he had in Pusher 1. I love Mikkelsen's loner video store clerk plotline (Buric plays his boss in it) who falls in love with the girl who works in a cafe (played by Refn's real life wife Liv Corfixen). You don't really see Mikkelsen play this type of character. It's a nice counterbalances the bleakness of Bodnia's character's storyline. It's a great film but barely anyone talks about it.

I love the Pusher movies but always found II weak, surprising you guys find it the strongest. Maybe I just didn't like Tommy as much as the other two. Have you seen Bleeder? Haven't checked it myself yet. Also as far as authenticity goes it feels very real, though extreme. I'm lucky to understand danish and having spent much time in copenhagen. Amazing movies though very anxiety inducing, the distorted audio as we descend into drugs and desperation. Maybe due for a rewatch, I've seen 1 and 3 maybe 4 times and 2 I think just once, but it must have been 10 years.

One can only hope cinema resets to quality stories rather than endless tiresome fetishist propaganda. TV or streaming etc these days is almost like a monolithic shit struggling to ease it's turtle head out. We all await the final release so we can go back to real entertainment and art.