starring Kim Bodnia
directed by Nicholas Winding Refn
110 minutes
Danish with English subtitles
Most things go horribly wrong for Frank, a drug dealer, over the course of a week. He owes money to Milo, his supplier. An old acquaintance approaches Frank looking to buy a large amount of drugs. Frank brokers a deal with Milo, who is skeptical but goes along with it. The sale to the old acquaintance goes badly. The police show up just as the sale is about to go down. Frank gets away (temporarily) and throws the drugs in the lake. The police hold Frank for 24 hours but don't have enough to keep holding him.
Frank's problems begin anew when the police release him. The police told Frank that his friend Tonny gave a sworn statement implicating Frank in crimes. Frank beats up Tonny when he gets out of prison. Milo tries to be understanding. He sends one of his strong men with Frank to collect from someone who owes a good chunk, more than 1/5 of the money he owes to Milo. The guy who owes the money panics and kills himself.
Things continue to get worse for Frank. He gets increasingly desperate. Every time he seems to make some progress he suffers a setback.
Thoughts
This is the first in a trilogy of movies. The second film in the series is about Tonny, who vanishes from this movie after Frank beats him up. The third is about Milo. I'm not sure if I am going to continue with this series.
This is the first movie that Nicholas Winding Refn directed and the second film of his that I have seen. The other is Drive (2011).
This is the first movie that Mads Mikkelson, he played Tonny, appeared in.
This is a very gritty looking movie. It was filmed entirely on hand held cameras, according to my research. There are many scenes where the lighting doesn't allow the viewer to see everything clearly.
This is pretty good for a first time director but it probably won't be everyone's cup of tea. It isn't uplifting and doesn't have a big climactic ending.
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