Another Round
Druk

Writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Commune) reteams with Mads Mikkelsen, star of Vinterberg’s virtuoso drama The Hunt, for a considerably frothier tale about a teacher in a small town. Not to imply that Another Round is some lightweight romp; this distinctly Danish picture explores serious cultural issues in a celebratory way.

The original title Druk (which translates to "drinking") and the opening—which depicts a national pastime of binge-drinking games played by high school kids who sing the national anthem between bouts of booze chugging, competitive racing, and vomiting—makes clear that this won't be the story of one man’s trouble with the bottle. As the sequence expands to an archive footage montage of tipsy or plastered leaders and public figures from around the globe, we're primed to view this film not only as an exploration of how alcoholism affects a single country. But Another Round may throw American viewers for a bit of a loop in the ways this picture confronts its central conflict.

Mikkelsen (After the Wedding, Casino Royale, At Eternity's Gate) plays Martin, one of four middle-aged friends who teach at a suburban high school. Like his three colleagues, Martin is in a mid-life funk. He’s slowly losing touch with whatever passion once burned inside him; his connection to his wife (Maria Bonnevie) and sons is faltering, and his teaching has become so rote and rambling that his superiors are concerned that the students aren’t receiving a decent education in his history classes.

One night, when the four buddies gather for a 40th birthday dinner, Nikolaj (Magnus Millang), the jovial psychology teacher, raises a scientific theory that all humans are born with a minor blood alcohol deficiency and if everyone could raise and maintain the level of alcohol in their bloodstream by just 0.05 percent, it would increase their level of happiness and productivity. Martin, Nikolaj, along with Peter (Lars Ranthe), the school choir director, and Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), the school coach, decide to put this theory to the test by embarking on a steady, carefully monitored regiment of judicious workday consumption.

The narrative proceeds as expected. At first, the four guys experience a joie de vivre that enhances their work and revives their personal lives. Then, as time goes by, things turn darker. But this predictability is not a flaw, because of the fascinating way each character deals with the situation. The experiment effects each member of the foursome differently and they navigate the ramifications of their participation in unique ways. Another Round is not an “issue picture” about dealing with alcoholism, but a dark comedy about men navigating mid-life.

Mikkelsen’s distinctive hang-dog handsomeness enhances his embodiment of a constantly pie-eyed or hung-over high-school teacher as much as the off-kilter angles of his face provided a disquieting edge to his portrayal of a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of sexual misconduct in The Hunt. And Mikkelsen’s other physical abilities as an actor have never been put to better use than in this picture. Every member of the fine supporting cast, even in the smallest roles, creates a full-bodied, lived-in character. 

Working with his frequent collaborator Tobias Lindholm (co-author of Submarino, The Hunt, and The Commune; and writer/director of the impressive A Hijacking and A War), Vinterburg explores every possible comedic or dramatic aspect of a premise that could be treated as light whimsy or heavy melodrama. But just as Denmark is a culture of contradiction—noted for having both one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption by its citizens and one of the highest levels of national productivity; constantly rated as one of the happiest places in the world to live yet also marked with one of the highest suicide rates— Vinterburg is a filmmaker who depicts the wide range of emotional states that coexist simultaneously in the human condition.