Bleeder

When Leo's girlfriend, Louise, announces she's pregnant, things fall apart. He hates his job, loathes his apartment and now has to contend with fresh demands on his commitment. Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 debut, Pusher, starring Kim Bodnia, who plays Leo, was a thrilling, scary insight into the nastier aspects of Copenhagen's drugs trade.

Bleeder concerns alienation, domestic violence and video films. It has the hand-held improv style of a dedicated neo-realist. Its mood is tense. Lenny works in a video store and can only talk about movies. Secretly, he yearns for the girl in the hamburger joint, but is too shy to turn up for their date.

Louise's brother, Louis, is a hard nut. He warns Leo that if he wacks his sister again, he'll take him out, and Louis doesn't make jokes. Lenny, Leo, Louis and the video store boss meet once a week to watch hard core action pix. Leo brings a gun and threatens Louis. Life imitating trash?

If it wasn't so bleak and desperate, the honesty of Refn's Scandinavian angst would have a powerful impact. Bodnia is memorable. You don't want to get to know him, that's all.