Last Exit (2003)

An amazingly deft, shoestring-budget production that plumbs the depths of its dark themes with passionate, convincing performances, LAST EXIT is a gritty, sexy psychological thriller. Its antihero is Nigel (Morten Vogelius), an incompetent criminal who flees his native England to Copenhagen in order to escape the loan sharks who are after him. He and his wife Maria (Jette Philipsen) shack up at a hotel, while each struggles separately with a drug problem. Maria manages to get a straight job, and Nigel gets a gig storing illegal goods for a local crime boss known as the President (Peter Damm-Ottesen). Things heat up when Nigel falls for Tanya (Gry Bay), a prostitute who works for the President, and their affair makes him ever more distant from Maria. The stage is set for a sex and violence-fueled descent into mayhem that remains intelligent throughout, as the plot twists and secrets are revealed. Maria gets pregnant and Nigel starts to snap, and the only sane one seems to be Jimmie, Nigel's existential pot dealer. Dark humor and a driving pop-rock score complete this riveting, nightmarish gem.