If you’re looking for a moral stance on drinking in Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-nominated Another Round, you won’t find one. The Danish director of The Hunt and The Celebration reunites with the splendid Mads Mikkelsen in a tragicomedy that doesn’t seek to tell you how to live your life, just that you should go out and live it—even better, celebrate it. Written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm, Another Round is an eccentric, thoughtful film that delves into the highs and lows of alcohol consumption while exploring our underlying desire to let loose.
The film follows four somewhat disillusioned middle-aged men as they try to reclaim their youth through a drinking experiment and ultimately can’t, their efforts tragically backfiring; however, in the process they learn to celebrate the present, to appreciate what they have and shake off the weight of adulthood in a tightly-wound society.
The film opens with a sharp contrast between the boundless energy and wild abandon of youth and the wilted, resigned existence of adulthood on the cusp of a banal midlife crisis. We cut from the gleeful mischief and mayhem of teenagers binge drinking and competing in an alcohol-fuelled race to the glazed monotony of middle-aged Martin (Mikkelsen), a high school history teacher who has lost the spark of joy in life. He robotically reads aloud from a textbook to his sleepy class of seniors. He doesn’t see much of his wife, Anika (Maria Bonnevie), who works night shifts. Their teenage sons barely engage in conversation. There’s a profound lack of fun and motivation in Martin’s life negatively affecting his relationships with his family, students and himself. When his class and their parents confront him about his indifferent teaching, Martin has an epiphany that he has become boring, a realization even his wife doesn’t deny.
On the brink of a breakdown, Martin begins to crack while out for dinner with his three friends celebrating Nikolaj (Magnus Millang)’s 40th birthday. As Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), Peter (Lars Ranthe), and Nikolaj endeavour to cheer Martin up, the four friends discuss Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud’s theory that humans would improve their lives by maintaining their blood alcohol level at 0.05%. Inspired as well by the drinking habits of famous figures in history, such as Hemingway and Churchill, the friends decide to secretly experiment with Skårderud’s theory and document their experience.
Initially, the four see a drastic improvement in their well-being and work performance. They feel vastly more creative and energized, breathing new life into their lessons and engaging students in interactive ways. Martin feels revitalized at home and books a camping trip for his family, during which he reconnects with his wife and sons (while sober—no drinking on weekends or after 8pm on weekdays). Watching this part of the friends’ experiment play out on screen is simultaneously thrilling, nerve-wracking, and hilarious. While we anxiously anticipate the potential consequences if the four teachers get caught, we also revel in their infectious rejuvenation and laugh alongside them in much-needed release. Unfortunately, we realize the merriment can’t last.
The friends expand the parameters of the experiment, increasing their daily alcohol intake to unsustainable levels and exploring binge drinking to oblivion, to detrimental effect. Expectedly, it takes a devastating toll on their lives, and the friends are forced to reconcile with their choices. Vinterberg never passes harsh judgement, and he effortlessly moves between scenes and shifts in tone in a way that mimics a release of control. The actors also brilliantly embody the various effects of alcohol as the characters’ blood alcohol levels change throughout the film.
Another Round is a moving portrait of friendship, loss, and collective celebration that employs a diverse range of human emotion and experience. It’s a particularly touching tribute given the tragic personal circumstances under which it was filmed—Vinterberg’s nineteen-year-old daughter Ida died in a car accident during the early stages of filming, and he dedicated the film to her. The final scene in the film is a pure celebration of life in which Mikkelsen, a trained dancer, lets loose as Martin and surrenders to the freedom and unrestrained power of dance. It’s a fitting end to the film, and one that invites the viewer to join in the revelry. I, for one, will toast to that.
Score: A-
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.