Harry Kane (John Turturro) is in mourning following the death of his pregnant wife in a mall shooting. However, when he discovers a mysterious photograph in her belongings, he goes to seek out the truth about her death. This means tracking down the woman in the photograph (Deborah Kara Unger) and uncovering a conspiracy. Maybe. It's definitely a very difficult-to-understand and obscure take on the Conspiracy Thriller.
It was directed and written by Nicolas Winding Refn (in his English-language debut) from a screenplay written by Hubert Selby Jr. Though released only a year before Selby's death, Refn dedicated the next Pusher film to him, and includes numerous references to him in his film work.
A 2003 film, it was a major Box Office Bomb that was nearly a Creator Killer for its director Nicolas Winding Refn, resulting in the bankruptcy of his production company.
Tropes
- Convenient Photograph: Harry's quest is all started by the discovery of a photograph of a mysterious woman and her son in his wife's belongings. Though he never quite finds out how it got there.
- The Ghost: Harry's wife is never fully shown except in the video he obsessively rewatches, which is very grainy and difficult to see.
- Hellevator: Metaphorically. The elevator functions as some sort of passage between worlds, as Harry and his wife both enter it, Harry after getting shot.
- Mind Screw: How many of the events we see (especially the final scenes where Harry tracks down and is shot by the killer actually happen as opposed to going on in Harry's mind is largely left up to the viewer.
- Name of Cain: Harry Kane's wife was murdered, and he's trying to find out who did it. Whether or not he gets any satisfying answers is definitely ambiguous.
- Nordic Noir: Or at least an example of it as an Unbuilt Trope. The movie was
filmed in Denmark and Canada, but is set in Montana and Wisconsin in the dead of winter, investigating a mysterious murder, with a very slow, sombre, and depressed tone. - Schlubby, Scummy Security Guard: Harry seems nice enough, but he's an obsessive, deeply depressed security guard who gets fired (or suspended, it isn't clear) after attacking someone at work. Justified, since he's also mourning his wife's murder.
