Four middle-aged men decide to reboot their humdrum lives with day drinking in this surprisingly upbeat film from The Celebration director Thomas Vinterberg, which is Denmark’s official submission for this year’s Oscars.
Mads Mikkelsen stars as Martin, a high school history teacher whose lessons are so boring, his students stage an intervention to stop him from ruining their chances on an all-important upcoming test.
He’s not just checked out of his teaching, but his marriage: His wife admits that he’s not that man she married and they seem to barely speak.
At a birthday party for one of his best friends, who all teach at the same school and are stuck in their own ruts, the men knock back the drinks.
They discuss the psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, who believes that humans were born with a too-low blood alcohol content and that drinking until you reach .05 BAC is how you can reach peak productivity and happiness.
Martin embraces the idea and begins secretly drinking on the job. His friends — soccer coach Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), music teacher Peter (Lars Ranthe), and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) — who first mentioned Skårderud — soon decide to join him.
At first, the men are energized. They’re funnier, more engaged, more connected. Instead of putting his students to sleep, Martin is now dazzling them with funny anecdotes about the drinking habits of Churchill and FDR. And for the first time in ages, his wife finds him desirable.
The friends decide if things are going this well, they should take it up a notch and drink even more.
Naturally, things begin to fall apart. It’s harder to keep up the facade at work and at home. Serious alcoholism seems imminent. Martin is torn: Should he abandon this newfound rejuvenation or keep going?
The film itself takes no stance on the drinking: There’s no moralizing, no speeches. Just the inevitable fact that drinking around the clock is unsustainable.
And yet, the joy with which a drunken Martin celebrates in the final scene stays with you. Like fellow screen heavy Christopher Walken, the actor has a background in dance and Vinterberg puts that talent to delightful use as Martin finally lets loose. Another Round is a fantastic showcase for Mikkelsen, who so often plays only villains in Hollywood movies.
I can’t help but be reminded of The Simpsons episode where Springfield briefly enacts Prohibition. As liquor pours back into the city, Homer Simpson proclaims, “To alcohol. The cause of — and solution to — all of life’s problems!”
Excessive drinking doesn’t solve anyone’s problems, but it does make for one of the best movies of the year.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
* * * * * *
Produced by Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Kasper Dissing
Written by Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe
