“Here’s to alcohol. The cause of, and solution to all of life’s problems.”
-Homer Simpson
I’ve never been much of a drinker. I mean I’ll have a good glass of wine or a beer once in a while, but alcohol just doesn’t appeal to me much, certainly not enough for me to enjoy drinking casually. And there’s a lot of pressure, especially in your twenties, to like alcohol and to define a personal palette when it comes to alcoholic beverages. That said, it never phased me and it continues to be an aspect of adult life I generally don’t participate in.
What impresses me about Another Round, a new film from former Dogme 95 founder Thomas Vinterberg, is its’ objective look at that ubiquity of alcohol as recreational vice that I find immensely interesting and relatable. Vinterberg seems just as fascinated as I am by its’ role in society and its’ effects on a persons’ attitude and social life -and he explores these with fair consideration. There’s something to be said for a movie that both touches on the dangers and destructiveness of alcoholism, but also advocates the uninhibited confidence and liberating euphoria that can come from engaging in a little regular moderate drinking, without the messages ever getting mixed.
The plot concerns four middle-aged teachers in Copenhagen disillusioned with their careers and their charges and feeling bored in their personal lives. Based off of the theory by psychologist Finn Skåderud that a 0.05% blood alcohol level makes you more invigorated, they decide to drink a little each day to see if it effects their mood and energy. They frame it as a scientific experiment, but that’s pretty clearly an excuse, because it doesn’t take long for this trial to facilitate some new leases on life. Gradually, the film reveals how their daily alcoholic intake improves their performance in class and their ability to connect with students. Primarily, we see the lead and initially the most detached of the four, Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) make strides in his relationship with his family, who had been distant from for a long time before.
I don’t know how much validity there is to Skåderud’s assertion, though I do know that Vinterberg and the lead actors tested it during production as a way of becoming more loose and relaxed around each other. For them at least it seemed to work somewhat as it does in the film, and there is an inherent believability to that psychological premise given the studied effects of alcohol. Even as someone not much interested in liquor, it is refreshing to see a movie on that topic that doesn’t make it so easily about addiction and spirals and depression. Vinterberg is unafraid to show alcohol as something genuinely stimulating that can positively affect ones’ life. And yet he doesn’t minimize the harm of it either, as his characters inevitably start pushing the limit of their daily BAC, succumbing to the dangers of real alcoholism. He knows it’s not the wisest idea to encourage this practice without addressing the ease with which it can get out of control -even among smart people. But in such times of weakness verging on dependency, we see the spring in their step is not as palpable; Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) humiliates himself with his lack of control and Martin is almost the vacant automaton he was before. Another Round essentially proposes a critical distinction between tipsiness and drunkenness -and that as long as it can be maintained without falling into the latter, the former is good and healthy.
But the movie isn’t only about alcohol, Vinterberg is just as compelled by that particular mid-life malaise that spurned his quartets’ experiment to begin with. There’s something relatable to the dourness of their lives and their dissatisfaction in their work and accomplishments. And it feels distinctly contemporary at its root: a social comment on twenty-first century economy, particularly as it pertains to the machine of education -and what that does to individual psychology. These four men really do seem like cogs, that their efforts don’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things, and that they’re undervalued by their inability to motivate their students in any substantive way. Of course this could also be an entirely subjective perception -most of the movie is shot that way, Vinterberg’s direction being very intimate, his camera almost always staying focused on just the character or characters most significant to the moment, following them where they go and immersing the audience into their company. And also that Nikolaj, Peter (Lars Ranthe), and Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen) don’t seem nearly as cut up in existential dread as Martin. But it is clear that their personal stagnancy is related to societal factors beyond their control.
As much as the group and their newfound ecstatic hobby drive the film, it is Mikkelsen who towers (literally, he’s a tall man) over the others and the whole movie itself. We’ve seen him stony and dismally cold in numerous roles , he’s got the face for it and it’s why he suits villains so well. But for someone who’s missed out on the acclaimed Hannibal and most of his work in Denmark (including a Cannes-award winning performance in Vinterbergs’ The Hunt), it’s the first time I’ve noticed layers of deep sadness in his bleak countenance, perhaps because Vinterberg emphasizes it so much. And in stark contrast to that, it may also be the first time I’ve seen him so enthused and energetic. He’s clearly having a lot of fun through stretches of the movie, cutting loose and going all in. And while Another Round received a couple deserving Oscar nominations, it’s a shame Mikkelsen isn’t among them, as he perhaps deserves to be the one white guy in this years’ awards season Best Actor conversation.
After watching this movie I learned that Vinterberg originally intended it to be a lot more cynical. It’s based on a play he wrote exploring drinking culture and might have dipped into some of the darker material he’s addressed in movies past -and possibly have ultimately given in to the characters’ depression. But early into filming, his daughter, who’d helped develop the idea, tragically died in a car accident. In light of this, the script was restructured, and the movie became something more warm, more optimistic in spite of its’ serious detours. And knowing this makes the ending, a perfect punctuation of wild spontaneity and pure joy that outdoes any other movie of the past year, all the more captivating and uplifting. Another Round is a movie about alcohol and its’ wide array of effects, but the impression you leave it with is that it’s the effects that are important; whether it comes from a drink or not, life is better when you open up to living.
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