As a die-hard fan of Hannibal, I have been obsessively trying to get my hands on Mads Mikkelsen’s latest film, Another Round. This Danish film has been getting lots of love and critical acclaim since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s also been entered as Demark’s entry into the 93rd Academy Awards!
The film follows a group of four friends who are all teachers. One night at dinner celebrating Nikolaj’s birthday, Martin reveals that he has been feeling listless and a bit depressed for quite some time because of struggles in his marriage. To lighten the mood, Nikolaj tells the group about a psychiatrist’s theory that humans should consistently have a blood alcohol content of 0.05% to feel more relaxed and creative.
The men dismiss it at dinner, although Martin decides to give it a go while at work. His friends soon find out and decide to join in by calling their expedition “research.” For a large chunk of the film this seems to be working its magic on the men’s lives. They gradually increase the percentage until eventually they decided to get obliterated. While the night was fun, everything comes to a head for Nikolaj and Martin, and Martin’s wife leaves him after an aggressive encounter.
The men decide to stop the experiment after this, except for Tommy who has become an alcoholic. It’s clear something is amiss, but Martin obeys Tommy’s wishes when he tells them all to stop checking in on him. A short time later, Tommy takes his sickly dog and his boat out to sea to commit suicide. It’s quite a jarring revelation for the other three men, as they learn about his death amidst the celebration of their graduating students.
After Tommy’s funeral, the group goes out to lunch to celebrate Tommy’s life, but are reluctant to drink alcohol again. That is until they see all of their students drive by on celebratory buses. They abandon their lunch and join the celebration. Martin gets a text from his wife implying that she is willing to give their marriage another chance, to which he replies by dancing around the group of students with some of the jazz moves mentioned earlier in the film.
Wow! What a ride this film was! A large portion of the film was rather fun and funny, but alcoholism is real, and I liked the stark contrast that was made in the film. It’s all fun and games until it goes too far. Mads was wonderful and I loved that he was able to incorporate his dance background into the film. I hope the Academy will give the film some love. It seems like a no-brainer entry in the Best International Feature Film category, but I hope Mads gets recognition in the acting category. Do to him like they did for Antonio Banderas last year! Another Round was a very cathartic film, and if subtitles don’t bother you, then I highly encourage you to watch this when it gets its wide release early next year.