Denmark. Four jaded teachers (Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe) embark on an experiment to conduct their lives with 0.5% alcohol constantly in their system. At first, it gives each man a boost, until they start to pursue the idea to the extreme.
"Another Round reunites Vinterberg, Lindholm and Mikkelsen after 2012’s The Hunt. In that one, Mikkelsen played a kindergarten teacher wrongly accused of being a paedophile. Here he moves up the Danish educational system to play secondary-school history teacher Martin, whose work life and home life have lost their spark. Meeting with similarly lacklustre colleagues — sports teacher Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), music head Peter (Lars Ranthe) and ringleader Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) — at a raucous birthday dinner, the oldies hatch a plan inspired by Norwegian psychologist Finn Skårderud’s controversial thesis that most people go through life with too little alcohol in their bloodstream. Citing some famous functioning alcoholics (Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway), the four make a pact to stay low-level drunk all day, monitoring and recording the results with scientific empiricism.
"From here the narrative shape is predictable but beautifully done. For its first half, it spins the idea for fun and japes as the four teachers find their lives invigorated by a smidgeon of alcohol; Tommy, smuggling booze onto a football pitch in a plastic sports bottle, brings the best out of an ostracised player; Peter leads his pupils in rousing sing-songs in-between secret swigs of alcohol; and Martin revitalises not only his days — there’s a lovely moment where he performs some nifty dance moves in a staff room — but also his nights, his kids suddenly paying him attention, his wife seeing him with fresh eyes. “I haven’t felt this good in ages,” he tells his cohorts, so the group decide to up the ante and increase their daily alcohol consumption. Big mistake.
"If it says nothing new about the dangers of over-indulgence, Another Round is funny and rich, a fresh, perfectly played, clear-eyed take on middle age ennui. Intoxicating." - Empire Magazine
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