Another Round

Most people after a rough day will sit back and enjoy a nice adult beverage to help knock a little sting of the day off. While that is seen as pretty acceptable, the thought of having a drink or two to bring out the best of you is pretty frowned upon. In Thomas Vinterberg’s new film Another Round a group of teachers decide to test a theory that men can improve their lives by keeping a certain level of alcohol in their blood, or how I call it, the cheat code to help us get through the rest of this year.

On the day of his 40^th birthday Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) has a little dinner with his closest friends. Among them is Peter (Lars Ranthe), Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), and Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and besides sharing a profession as teachers, they also all have a midlife crisis going on . Enter a theory that Nikolaj has read, that man can improve their livelihood if they maintain a constant level of alcohol in their blood stream. Being at the point they are in their lives they see little harm in not trying it out and decide to take notes to see if it works. There are rules though, they can’t drink after 8 P.M or on the weekends, so that pretty much leaves them to find ways to stay at a level during their days at school. Right away they all notice a difference, like they truly are their best selves and it all seems like they have it under control, until of course they do not. They start to push the boundaries of their experiment, and moving the line on just how much they will drink. This of course takes them from the highs they thought they were at, to new lows only to rebound and find their footing before it’s too late for them all.

You shouldn’t really need a reason to see a Thomas Viterberg film, after all this is a man who brought us The Celebration and The Hunt. For his latest, for which he cowrote with Tobias Lindholm, mixes a perfect cocktail that is sweet to start with, but ends with a brutal kick. This of course reteams Vinterberg with Mads Mikkelsen and Mads if can’t get your attention, I bet him dancing jazz ballet to Scarlet Pleasure’s What a Life will bring you in for sure. For me that is all I needed to want to watch Another Round which is not just a movie about life after forty, it’s also a movie about the friendships we form and how they can shape us. It is also something that makes you want to see your own friends and of course have a drink or two or three and maybe even test your own theory. I could give you more reasons to see this, but will just leave it at Mads and Vinterberg reteaming and one of the better dance sequences you will see on film, and the end, what more could you ask for?