Movie Monday July 18: Another Round

After a bit of a summer break, I’m back doing Movie Mondays. My pick for this week is Another Round, a Danish film starring Mads Mikkelsen. A friend of mine told me about it a few months ago, but I finally sat down and watched it and it did not disappoint.

**Warning, mild spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t watched the movie yet, what are you doing?**

Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), a teacher at a Copenhagen high school, feels dissatisfied with his life. He and his wife have grown distant, he is unmotivated with his equally unmotivated students, and feels that everything has become boring. His three friends and colleagues, Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), Peter (Lar Ranthe), and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang), are also struggling as they each approach midlife. At Nikolaj’s 40th birthday dinner, they discuss a theory that humans are born with a blood alcohol content deficiency and that having a .05% BAC makes someone their truer self. They then decide to test out this experiment to see if it helps in their professional and personal lives. They only drink during working hours (not after 8pm or on the weekends) and never drink and drive. At first their experiment works; Martin inspires his history students and reconnects with his wife and two sons. Nikolaj, who is a relatively new father, has better balance in his life. Peter and Tommy connect better with their respective students, including Peter helping an older student pass his oral exam and Tommy defending a bullied boy on his youth soccer team. Seeing that the experiment works, they up the BAC limit to .10 and eventually decide to drink to oblivion one night to test their limits. This causes things to come crumbling down, and eventually threatens to ruin their personal and professional lives. In the end, through tragedy and heartbreak, Martin is finally able to fully embrace the joys of life as his students graduate and prepare for university.

I went into Another Round with zero expectations. I don’t know much about Danish culture, but I feel like I got a crash course in the drinking culture, especially with teens and young adults. My friend that told me about the film is Danish and she was able to explain some of it beforehand, but I had no idea how normal binge drinking is. The film opens with students from the high school competing in a “drinking race” around a lake. Their joy and love of life contrasts with the older characters who are more worn out. It was an interesting peek into one aspect of Danish culture.

The director of the Another Round, Thomas Vinterberg, lost his daughter to a drunk driver a few weeks into filming and dedicated the movie to her. You can see how this affected the tone of the movie. It beautifully balances comedy and tragedy in a way that doesn’t feel too heavy or undercut the serious moments. I laughed, I cried, I loved it. The students depicted in the movie are also played by Vinterberg’s daughter’s classmates and filmed at her school, another touching tribute.

The performances by the four main actors were fantastic. There were so many moments that felt real and perfectly acted. Another Round was also heavily nominated and won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The praise is well deserved and I will definitely rewatch this film again and again.

One moment that made me laugh: Martin’s dance at the end of the film. The laughter wasn’t because the moment was funny, but rather I could feel how joyous the scene was. Also Mads Mikklesen is a classically trained dancer and you can see how talented he still is.

One moment that made me cry: When Tommy goes sailing after getting fired. I’m not going to say anymore than that, but I pretty much had tears in my eyes for much of the film after that.

I’d give Another Round 9.5 shots out of 10. I’m only taking .5 off because I don’t know the fate of the dog.