The latest in the violent Danish crime series spends 24 hours caught in the grim life of Serbian drug tsar Milo (Zlatko Buric), first glimpsed in the first Pusher and now given his own bleak chapter. The day begins well: having successfully food-poisoned his own goons, Milo decides to cook a banquet for his daughter’s birthday. Business, however, is hopeless — until a shipment of Ecstasy comes his way.
It turns out to be candy; revenge isn’t sweet. Merging exploitation nous with savage character study, director Nicolas Winding Refn is like a subzero Abel Ferrera, equally bloody, equally squalid, even more cynical. Buric’s hypnotic turn is horribly compelling, while an abrasive soundtrack and handheld style rub in the grit. Raw, ruthless and gut-wrenching.