Nicholas Winding Refn, ever the provocateur, has returned to his native Denmark after more than a decade away to film Copenhagen Cowboy, a new Netflix series set to premiere at the current Venice Film Festival on September 9. The streaming service has also released a first look at the programme, which has Refn’s distinctive aesthetic in plenty.
The two-minute “trailer,” which is drenched in neon and set to banging techno music, doesn’t reveal anything about the narrative, but instead serves as more of a mood piece.
You must recall the now-iconic teaser for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that David Fincher had a hand in creating. This, though, is in a similar vein, albeit with more captivating visuals. Lots of pigs, a martial arts sequence that we just catch a glimpse of, and cryo chambers. At times set in a known world, at others in a fantastical one, the figures shout and pose menacingly. Copenhagen Cowboy, a supernatural vengeance odyssey starring an enigmatic young heroine, is a “continuation” of the topics that Refn initially tackled in his Prime Video series Too Old to Die, Young, as the director hinted at in an interview with Variety, suggesting that he has grown as a filmmaker.
According to him: Too Old to Die Young accurately predicted the state of affairs in Trump’s America. The exhibition reflected my preoccupations at the time as well as the cultural norms and values I was exposed to at the time. What started in Copenhagen Cowboy will be continued in its sequel.
His daughters Lola and Lizzielou feature in the six-part series, which he calls “a fairy tale that represents everything around (us)” and which his wife, Liv Corfixen, executive produced. Besides directing, Refn also takes on the role of the producer under the NWR label he shares with Lene Borglum and Christina Bostofte Erritze. Sara Isabella Jönsson and Johanne Algren collaborated on the show’s writing; Magnus Nordenhof Jnck directed the episodes; and Cliff Martinez, Peter Peter, Peter Kyed, and Julian Winding composed the music. Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, is arguably Refn’s most well-known film in Hollywood. Back together again, he directed the elegant Only God Forgives and the similarly themed The Neon Demon, both of which starred the actor.
The director has been moving away from a realistic approach and toward a more fantastic one in recent years, and it seems like Copenhagen Cowboy perfectly captures his current aesthetic.
Synopsis
In Copenhagen Cowboy, Miu, a mysterious young woman, is the protagonist of a thrilling, neon-soaked noir series spanning six episodes. She is on the edge of a fresh beginning after escaping a life of slavery, and she must first make her way through the foreboding terrain of Copenhagen’s underworld. As she travels the normal and magical worlds in search of justice and revenge, she crosses paths with her archenemy, Rakel. As the two ladies come to realise they are not unique but rather part of a larger community, their shared history changes and shapes their destiny.