A Nordisk Picture, Written by Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm, Directed by Thomas Vinterberg.
Another Round (2020) revolves around four high school teachers, all at different impasses in their lives, as they consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives. It is written and directed by Thomas Vinterberg and reunites him with his The Hunt (2012) stars Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, and Lars Ranthe.
The film gets us straight into the action and introduces us to the mundane life of Martin (Mikkelsen) as he works as a teacher, failing to engage with or inspire his students, and also lacking in desire to pursue a social life, whilst also seemingly facing an impasse in his marriage. It is as this point where Martin, and a group of three other friends, decide to pursue a theory whereby you maintain a constant certain level of inebriation, and it improves your lifestyle.
This is a fun concept and the first half of the film runs with this, showing how these men are embracing life in a new way and thriving at work and in their personal lives. There are great moments of comedy and entertainment as they maintain their drunkenness, causing their personas to be larger than life and their actions more carefree. The experiment seems to be working for them in every way, but as the second half of the film approaches, we quickly see that isn’t truly the case, especially for certain members.
As the cracks begin to show, we see the truth that the drink and what it brings, is just cover for the individual insecurities these men have and the midlife crises that they are going through, all shown through the eyes of our protagonist Martin, who’s own life actually starts to fall apart worse after a short period of seeming like it was better. After tragedy strikes the group of friends as a result of what started out as just a fun game, the film becomes very sobering and thoughtful, exploring consequences and reality in a way few films do. This is important but can be quite hard to watch and there reaches a point where you begin to question where the film is going with the narrative, but that is answered when we reach the final scene.
After receiving some good news, Martin joins two of the friends, and his students ,who are partying on the harbour side after getting their results. Martin is at first restrained and mournful, not wanting to take part. However, as the song ‘What a Life’ begins to play, Martin, a former jazz ballet dancer, dances with the rest of the partygoers, which he had refused up to this point in the film despite his colleagues’ repeated instigations. His dance becomes increasingly frenetic (Mikkelsen absolutely thrives and uses his previous experience as a gymnast and dancer to his advantage) and the story ends as he hurls himself into the harbour. It is a few minutes of entirely raw, human, mesmerising cinema, where Martin completely gives in to the moment and truly embraces the song and the lessons he’s learned throughout the film. In the context of the narrative, it is a completely surprising and thoroughly satisfying moment, and it one of the absolute finest moments of cinema in recent years. One I desperately wish I had been able to experience alongside a packed crowd in a cinema.
The man who holds all this together, and delivers in remarkable style in the finale dance sequence, is the inimitable Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen has already had a stunning career in both english-language and foreign-language projects ranging from Vinterberg’s own The Hunt, to playing Hannibal Lecter in Bryan Fuller’s series adaptation Hannibal (2013), but he has never been quite as good as he is here. He brings such charisma, gravitas, and depth to a really difficult role, it is a joy to behold, and he should be a much stronger contender for this year’s best actor Oscar than he currently seems to be.
This is a thought provoking and deeply engaging film, with a riveting lead performance and one of cinema’s great final scenes. What a life!
Rating = 4/5
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