BRONSON is part of Nicolas Winding Refn series at BAM
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
October 1-4
718-636-4100
bam.org
Though still in his thirties, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn has already made seven fascinating films, primarily psychologically thrillers filled with brutal violence. BAM is paying tribute to the wunderkind by screening his first six films — including the amazing PUSHER trilogy — over the course of four days, in addition to GAMBLER, Phie Ambo’s documentary that goes behind the scenes with Refn during the making of the latter two PUSHER films. Go see these and be sure to tell your friends, which will make your cool quotient soar.
Thursday, October 1
FEAR X (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2003), 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
Friday, October 2
BRONSON (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2009), followed by a Q&A with Nicolas Winding Refn, 6:50
GAMBLER (Phie Ambo, 2006), 4:30, 9:40
Saturday, October 3
PUSHER (Nicolas Winding Refn, 1996), followed by a Q&A with Nicolas Winding Refn, 4:00
PUSHER II: WITH BLOOD ON MY HANDS (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2004), introduced by Nicolas Winding Refn, 7:00
PUSHER III: I’M THE ANGEL OF DEATH (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2003), 9:15
Mads Mikkelsen has his hands full in THE PUSHER
THE PUSHER TRILOGY (Nicolas Winding Refn, 1996, 2004, 2005)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
Sunday, October 3
www.pusherthemovie.co.uk
Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn’s PUSHER trilogy is a gritty, violent, brutal, and brilliant look at the devastation wrought by drugs. In PUSHER (1996), Kim Bodnia stars as Frank, a small-time hood who loses both the money and the drugs when a deal goes bad. Over the course of a week, he grows more and more desperate as druglord Milo (Zlatko Buric) and his henchman, Radovan (Slavko Labovic), grow more and more impatient, preparing to do some serious damage to Frank. PUSHER II: WITH BLOOD ON MY HANDS focuses on Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen), Frank’s former partner who has just been released from prison. Addled by a beating he took, Tonny gets lost in a drug haze, trying to prove himself a worthy criminal to his big-time father, the Duke (Leif Sylvester Petersen), while also refusing to accept that he might be the father of Charlotte’s (Anne Sorensen) child. With the whole world crashing in on him, Tonny goes to extreme measures that affect everybody in his sphere. The gritty, powerful trilogy concludes with Refn’s masterwork, PUSHER III: I’M THE ANGEL OF DEATH, this time with Milo in the forefront. While preparing for his daughter’s (Marinela Dekic) twenty-fifth birthday party, he discovers that a major score has changed significantly, and he is forced to deal directly with a new generation of drug dealers — and by himself, because his cooking has made his crew sick. Shuttling between the ever-worsening situation, NA meetings, and his daughter’s party, Milo is faced with some deadly choices. Buric is spectacular as the aging druglord who does not like what he sees as he takes stock of his life. While the first two films feature hard-driving punk music, classical music slows things down in the far more contemplative conclusion. To add to the remarkable realism, many of the supporting actors were actual criminals. The grand finale is unforgettable, a multilayered, deeply philosophical, and extremely violent statement on the nature of drugs and the men and women addicted to that life. All three films will be screened on October 3 as part of BAM’s four-day Refn festival, with the director participating in a Q&A session following the first film and then introducing the second.
Sunday, October 4
BLEEDER (Nicolas Winding Refn, 1999), 2:00, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15