‘Another Round’ review: Dir. Thomas Vinterberg (2020) [LFF]

Thomas Vinterberg reteams with his star of The Hunt, Mads Mikkelsen, for a tale about middle age and drinking, and all the high and lows that come with pouring libations.

We all have our own relationship with alcohol. We may like one or two (maybe four) drinks here and there with our friends, some of us may not touch the stuff at all. No matter our individual preferences, drinking is a large part of a number of cultures, permeating the social lives of anyone from an 18-year-old student to a 60 year old academic. The country at the focus here is Denmark, the Scandanavian country that drinks the most, and from the perspective of Mikkelsen’s history teacher and four colleagues, we explore the confidence and revelry a good stiff drink can provide, as well as the devastating effects the loss of control that a drunken stupor can bring with it. 

Mikkelsen plays Martin, a teacher who feels he has lost his touch,  not only in his career but in his marriage. Keen to try something to get his engine firing again, he and three other friends and fellow faculty members begin to embark on an experiment to see if areas of their life can be improved by maining a constant level of alcohol in their bloodstream. With early successful results, the four friends become more keen to push their limits, throwing light on the issues in their life that having a drink simply cannot solve. 

Another Round is a film filled to the brim with emotion, very much conveying the kind of dizzying highs and crushing lows that a night of drinking can conjure. Through the four main characters of Martin, psychology teacher Nikolaj (Magnus Millang), music teacher Peter (Lars Rantho) and gym instructor Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), we see a relationship with alcohol forged through four middle aged guys looking to improve the kind of deficiencies in their lives they feel their younger selves would be disappointed to see they have developed. This ranges from career frustrations, to marriage issues, to the lack of a relationship entirely. 

When they begin their experiment to test the theory that humans are actually always operating with a blood alcohol level deficiency, there’s a cautious edge from the off, one that does begin to smooth off as we bear witness to the kinds of improvements the experiment does provide. It makes all of the men more unpredictable and engaging teachers, with all of them becoming more ambitious in their lives both in and outside the school. 

Soon enough, the darker reality of coming to rely on alcohol so much in their lives in order to perform to a better version of themselves comes to weigh heavily, with the habit proving harder to drop for some than for others. In displaying the giddy fun and the often disorientating lows of drinking, Another Round is a film that is very keen to point out that there is nothing wrong with enjoying a drink and going out and getting drunk with your best mates, but there is of course a limit. In doing so, it constructs a drama that goes through the intense emotions that drinking can conjure, making the film both a feel good and melancholic experience that gently opens the door to allow you to examine your own relationship with alcohol through the story of these four middle aged men. 

The central four performances are what really bring this tale of mixing drinks and pouring pints to the kind of exuberant life that makes every moment sing with a sense of genuine humour and warmth. Their chemistry is laid back and all of them are very generous performers, sparking off one another with a convincing level of familiarity. It does very much come away as being Mikkelsen’s film, and the seasoned actor has arguably never been better. Martin is a man who has had his spark leave him at one point or another, and he’s keen to get it back. Mikkelsen finds that perfect blend of an aged worn man who still has something of that spark hiding underneath, which bursts out in a sequence at the end that is entirely crowd-pleasing in its nature. 

Crowd-pleasing is a great way to surmise Another Round. It may deal with the darker shadows of one’s relationship with alcohol, but it does so wrapped in a story around friendship and a desire for self-improvement, and one that also doesn’t ever try to convince you that drinking isn’t fun. It is not a lecture on the dangers of drinking, more a realistic examination of how people can come to rely on it, and what the positives and negatives of that experience can be. It is a touching, funny, and bittersweet tale that uses the top shelf of human emotion to concoct a potent cocktail that’ll linger on your mind long after it has been consumed.