"Another Round" -- Movie Review

 

This week, Film at Lincoln Center provided a special screening of the Danish comedy-drama, “Another Round” (AKA, “Druk”), starring Mads Mikkelsen. 

Synopsis

When a group of friends experiment with alcohol, how will this impact their life – both personally and professionally?

Story

Martin (Mikkelsen) has been teaching for a long time -- so have several of his colleagues.  They’re currently finding themselves at something of a dead end in both their personal and professional lives.  Finding their family life a dud and not particularly motivated to teach any longer, they find a possible way to get out of their rut:  alcohol.  When the men go out to dinner one night, one of them happens to mention that there is a belief that maintaining a minimum Blood Alcohol Level could actually enrich one’s life.  The men decide to embark on a little experiment:  sustain a moderate buzz throughout the day to see its impact.

One of the things in Martin’s life that has been suffering is his relationship with his wife, Anika (Maria Bonnevie).  For one thing, they are on different schedules because she works a night shift and they rarely see each other as they share the responsibility of caring for their teenage sons.  Another dead spot for Martin is his role as an educator; he is bored teaching and it shows -- his students are obviously lacking interest in his daily classes.  However, once his secret experiment begins, his life seems to turn around almost immediately.  Martin suddenly becomes more enthusiastic in his classes -- students pick up on this and their attitude changes.

This enthusiasm translates into his family life as well.  Martin becomes more romantic with Anika and even takes the initiative to plan a family vacation with their boys.  His confidence level becomes such that he feels that increasing his alcohol level will improve his performance even further.  Why not?  After all, he seems perfectly capable of moderating his intake and doesn’t appear to be bordering on alcoholism.  Since Martin believes he can handle his drinking, he and his friends drink more with increasing frequency.  But when Anika leaves him after observing some serious behavioral changes, will Martin wind up losing his family?

Review

Fellow alcohol lovers, rejoice!  With “Another Round”, we finally, we have a reason to be proud of our chosen vice.  The solution itself plays a role as both the hero and the villain in this story as it simultaneously enhances and depreciates the quality of life of the various protagonists.  What makes “Another Round” worthwhile is that it is even-handed in its approach toward the characters’ flirtation with borderline alcoholism:  on the one hand, it romanticizes the joy of its ephemeral sense of liberation while also not shying away from the fact that living a life in excess can clearly have a destructive impact on many levels. 

The cast is splendid and appear to have an excellent chemistry – you truly believe that these men could be friends in real life.  What’s clear, though, is that they are using alcohol in order to deal with what amounts to a mid-life crisis:  these men are feeling their youth slowly slip away from them and resort to the behavior of adolescents.  For those that are married, the wife must be the sole grownup in the relationship – these women are discouraged to learn that their partner is just another child (albeit an overgrown one) who must be cared for or punished, depending on the circumstances at the time. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with the writer/director of “Another Round”, Thomas Vinterberg.  Vinterberg noted that his film is supposed to be funny; instead of being moralistic, it is rather a celebration of alcohol.  However, he does realize that there is certainly a dark side:  it can kill people and destroy families.  He believes that people drink when excited to maintain that feeling; problems and censorship tend to disappear.  There are no angry drunks in the movie – this is a group of fun-loving friends who genuinely enjoy each other’s company.  Vinterberg points out that none of the actors were actually drunk during the shoot – he believed in the cast’s ability to be professional and merely “act” drunk.