Pusher (film series)

The first film follows Frank for a week, a mid-level drug dealer who becomes indebted to his supplier, Milo. It depicts his depravity and how his actions force him further and further out on thin ice while revealing the bittersweet relationship he has with his girlfriend, Vic.[2]

The film was a success, not only in Denmark, but internationally, and launched both Refn's and Mads Mikkelsen's careers.[3]

The second film follows Frank's low-level criminal sidekick, Tonny. It illustrates how Tonny is rooted in a spiral of crime and drugs, his relationship towards his notorious, cynical father and how he adapts to the consequence of becoming a father himself.[4] According to film critic Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times "in Refn's skilled street-realist hands, the child becomes a potent, wailing metaphor for Tonny's own dilemma of rudderless need".[5]

The third film depicts a day in the life of Serbian drug lord Milo. Milo, who was a feared and respected man in the first two films, has since aged. He does not have the same grip on the underworld that he used to and is now slowly losing the battle against a younger generation of immigrants, who now want a piece of the action. The film shows Milo's downfall and his desperate attempt to reclaim the throne.[6]

A Hindi remake of the same name, starring, written and directed by Assad Raja, was released in 2010.[7]

An English-language remake of the same name, starring Richard Coyle, was released in 2012, with Zlatko Burić reprising his role as Milo from the original trilogy.[8]