Oscar winner (International Feature) and incisive story about the middle-aged crisis of four teachers.
Another Round
“So, when you run around totally wasted, throwing up in bushes and alleys, don't feel alone, because you're in great company.” Martin (Mads Mikkelsen)
Another Round is a Danish drama rightfully awarded the “International Feature” Oscar while the director, Thomas Vinterberg, was nominated for director. Although mid-life crisis has been amply treated in films around the world (think Wild Hogs and Sideways for starters), this one goes deeper than most exploring the chaos of four teachers experimenting with alcohol to spice up their lives.
The acting is superb—Mikkelsen should have been nominated. The analysis of the crisis is better than any lecture.
Using Norwegian psychologist Finn Skarderund’s work about the need for human blood alcohol to maintain a 0.5% level, Martin tries it and finds he’s a better teacher when he’s drunk. His three buddies follow, with degrees of success that impel them to reach higher levels. Only the most dimwitted audience wouldn’t see the disruption to personal and professional lives that will ensue.
However, the film keeps it even between the obvious domination of drinking and the needs it reflects, especially for domestic lives that are immediately affected by the excess. Actually, nothing dramatic erupts during the first two thirds of the film, just a slow deterioration of each one’s ability to control his environment. Family life for Martin is almost from the beginning vulnerable to his change, and not for the better.
Nor does Another Round take it easy in the end by showing them mature and sober. In fact, it’s hard to decide, even after a tragedy touches them, that they will lead sober lives after the graduation of their students. The fact that these middle-aged teachers need to revive their lives is ample proof that they need intervention, but alcohol is not the candidate.
“The world is never as you expect.” Martin
Another Round
Director: Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt)
Screenplay: Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm (The Hunt)
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt)
Run Time: 1h 57m
Rating: NR
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JohnDeSando62@gmail.com
