Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

by **Jeremy B** on Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:41 pm

Director of the Pusher series, Bronson, Vahalla Rising, and most recently, Drive.

Crap/Not Crap?

by **holmes** on Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:11 pm

I like his glasses.

by **chapin** on Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:48 pm

I have no idea if they were money grabs or not, but part 2 of the Pusher trilogy was way better than part 1, to me.

Valhalla rising was awesome even with virtually no dialog, some awesome cinematography in there.

Drive was the best commercial film I've seen in a long while.

Haven't seen of the others, not crap from what I've seen.

by **punch_the_lion** on Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:25 pm

Based on Bronson and Drive, huge NOT CRAP for me.

Drive will be released on Blu-Ray at the end of January. Looking forward to owning it.

by **enframed** on Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:14 pm

Not crap.

Valhalla Rising and Drive were both excellent.

Bronson was OK. Hardy was fantastic, but I became bored after a while.

by **Plastic Eggs** on Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:18 am

NOT CRAP by a long shot. His films are incredible.

by **Andy** on Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:34 pm

NC based on Drive, the only one I've seen, but I've added his others to my to-be-seen list.

by **punch_the_lion** on Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:42 pm

Valhalla Rising is on Netflix Instant.

by **Andy** on Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:45 pm

And Bronson and Pusher 3. Thanks for the reminder.

http://movies.netflix.com/WiRoleDisplay ... d=20010745

by **OrthodoxEaster** on Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:13 pm

Not crap, waffles w/piskefløde on top.

The Pusher trilogy is fantastic, particularly the first and third ones. Both Kim Bodnia and the dirtbag who plays Milo are about the most perfectly cast actors around. There's a lot of stylization in these films and they definitely possess a post-Tarantino vibe, but I also think these movies are drier and less self-obsessed w/way more emotional depth. And, ultimately, far superior.

I liked Valhalla Rising. It was a little stupid, but very interesting.

Have not seen Bronson.

GirlfriendEaster was viewing Drive the other day. I was in the next room and didn't feel compelled to watch. She remarked that she was unsure if I would enjoy it.

by **punch_the_lion** on Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:25 pm

OrthodoxEaster wrote:Not crap, waffles w/piskefløde on top.

The Pusher trilogy is fantastic, particularly the first and third ones. Both Kim Bodnia and the dirtbag who plays Milo are about the most perfectly cast actors around. There's a lot of stylization in these films and they definitely possess a post-Tarantino vibe, but I also think these movies are drier and less self-obsessed w/way more emotional depth. And, ultimately, far superior.

I liked Valhalla Rising. It was a little stupid, but very interesting.

Have not seen Bronson.

GirlfriendEaster was viewing Drive the other day. I was in the next room and didn't feel compelled to watch. She remarked that she was unsure if I would enjoy it.

A lot of polarizing views on his work. Someone I know who loved Drive, hated the first Pusher movie.

by **Bernardo** on Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:11 am

I just saw Fear X. Didn't anybody else see this? It was definitely worth it.

by **Tommy Alpha** on Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:50 am

For all you non-2000 AD heads-

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/nicolas ... ling-game/

Pretty exciting if it comes together.

by **Mr. Chimp** on Mon Sep 10, 2012 6:25 am

enframed wrote:Not crap.

Valhalla Rising and Drive were both excellent.

Bronson was OK. Hardy was fantastic, but I became bored after a while.

agreed, though of the three I've seen, Valhalla Rising was the superior film, Drive was pretty good, and as you said for Bronson. Still want to see the Pusher trilogy.

by **Zorg** on Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:10 am

I think Pusher 1 and Drive are his best films and I've seen all the rest except Bleeder. Talented guy, but I feel like he's not self assured to have his own style, and the high-concept films mostly devolve into homages to Kubrick (Valhalla, Bronson) or Lynch (Fear X) with snatches of other influences. Pusher and Drive should be the most derivative, as they are generic genre pictures, but they wind up transcending the conventions. Still, all said, none of his movies have been BAD, which is pretty impressive.

by **punch_the_lion** on Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:05 pm

Really looking forward to Only God Forgives, the premise sounds great. His take on Logan's Run should be interesting.

by **Into the Void** on Mon Nov 12, 2012 3:12 pm

After finally seeing Valhalla Rising I've now seen every single one of his films. It's pretty rare I like a filmmaker enough to hunt down everything he's done, but even more rare is that I didn't dislike any of them, and about half of them I absolutely love (Bronson, Pusher II and III, Valhalla Rising, and even Drive, to a lesser extent).

Zorg wrote:Talented guy, but I feel like he's not self assured to have his own style, and the high-concept films mostly devolve into homages to Kubrick (Valhalla, Bronson) or Lynch (Fear X) with snatches of other influences.

I feel like he's still developing his own style (he's still only 42) but don't see any of these as homages to Kubrick or Lynch. Influenced by Kubrick aesthetically for sure (which is a good thing, in my book), but neither of those guys made films as grimey as the Pusher series or Bronson. Fear X definitely tread on Lynch territory and was my least favorite of the bunch.

As has also been noted above, this guy uses music superbly. The intro to Bronson with the Scott Walker, the Pet Shop Boys playing during a party at an insane asylum, using Cliff Martinez and Johnny Jewel for the Drive score...great stuff. I'm really looking forward to following Refn's career, he seems like an extraordinarily creative guy on a lot of different levels.

by **Zorg** on Mon Nov 12, 2012 3:45 pm

Into the Void wrote:
Zorg wrote:Talented guy, but I feel like he's not self assured to have his own style, and the high-concept films mostly devolve into homages to Kubrick (Valhalla, Bronson) or Lynch (Fear X) with snatches of other influences.

I feel like he's still developing his own style (he's still only 42) but don't see any of these as homages to Kubrick or Lynch. Influenced by Kubrick aesthetically for sure (which is a good thing, in my book), but neither of those guys made films as grimey as the Pusher series or Bronson. Fear X definitely tread on Lynch territory and was my least favorite of the bunch.

by "the high-concept films", I mean't the more experimental ones like Bronson, Valhalla and Fear X. The former two have unmistakable Kubrick references. I was trying to make the point that the genre exercises (Pusher, Drive) seem more accomplished. Also, I would say Clockwork Orange is pretty grimey. Still, I'm nitpicking.

by **Bernardo** on Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:05 pm

Having seen Fear X, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive and Only God Forgives, it's a safe NC vote. Looking forward to seeing the Pusher trilogy.

by **Angus Jung** on Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:15 am

One of the DVD extras for "Only God Forgives" is an interview with him, where he says, "I really wanted to make important films, great works of art, but I realized I didn't have the talent." He gets points for honesty.