Another Round (2020) Review

Time: 117 Minutes
Age Rating: Sex scenes & offensive language
Cast:
Mads Mikkelsen as Martin
Thomas Bo Larsen as Tommy
Lars Ranthe as Peter
Magnus Millang as Nikolaj
Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Four high school teachers (Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, Magnus Millang) consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives.

I heard of Another Round as being a Danish movie about drinking starring Mads Mikkelsen. I’m interested in anything that Mads Mikkelsen was in, and I heard that the movie had been screened at film festivals, with the reception being pretty positive. I didn’t really know what to expect from it, but Another Round turned out to be quite a surprise, it’s great and definitely worth checking out.

Another Round (also titled Druk in Denmark) is a dramedy that balances its comedy and drama effectively. The plot is about drinking, as you can probably tell from the title. Usually, movies that have drinking as the main focus show just the negative effects. With this movie however, it shows the positives and the negative sides, while having unique looks at serious subject matters including alcoholism, discontent lives, and marriages. It’s quite an easy to watch, the light-hearted tone through much of the film fits the movie quite well. It’s definitely entertaining and fun but also has a few emotional moments which stick with you. Along with the highs, Another Round also shows the crushingly lows of the effect of alcohol, and as they are continuing with these four teachers’ intoxication experience, we see the many downsides of how it can affect one’s life, as well as those around them. What at first starts as a experiment becomes something else entirely for the characters. It feels very honest and not in an overly sappy way, it feels genuine and nuanced. It highlights the seduction associated with drinking, and refreshingly doesn’t shy away from showing how great that feeling is. It’s a bit predictable but I was on board for the ride from beginning to end. Something else to note, the ending is one of the best endings I’ve seen from a movie this year, and is also one of the most memorable scenes I’ve seen from 2020.

The cast are all great in their performances, but it comes down to 4 main leads in Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, Magnus Millang as friends and teachers who are carrying out their drunken and intoxication experiment. There is such great chemistry between these 4, you really believe that they are longtime friends in their scenes together. Mads Mikkelsen is essentially the main character out of the 4, I’ve always liked him, but in Another Round, he delivers some of his best work. He gives quite a vulnerable, nuanced and versatile performance, definitely among the stand out performances from 2020.

This is the first movie I have seen from Thomas Vinterberg, I haven’t seen his prior movies but heard that he’s a great director with films like The Hunt and Far from the Maddening Crowd which I want to check out. Having seen Another Round, I do want to watch his other movies even more, because he’s definitely a great director based off his work here. I do like how they differentiate the sober and drunk scenes with the camerawork, with the sober scenes being shot more steady, and the drunk scenes being shot more handheld. The last sequence/ending of the movie stands out, largely because of how it was filmed and the use of music.

Another Round is a humane, warm and cathartic dramedy showing the benefits and drawbacks of alcohol, as well as being a very reflective and entertaining movie about life, friendship and day drinking. With a well written script and solid good direction, it really succeeds in its goal. Top that off with 4 great performances, especially from Mads Mikkelsen, it is great. It’s one of the best movies of the year and is worth watching for sure.

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