Most films that deal with the demon drink have been po-faced manifestos on the dangers of alcohol and there are very few films that celebrate drunkenness and those that do usually do so for comic effect. Thomas Vinterberg's "Another Round" is something of a rare exception. It's a film about drinking to excess that's indeed both funny and tragic in equal measure as it explores the theory that we all seem to have a blood alcohol level that is 0.05% too low and that we should drink enough, during daylight hours at least, to raise it to that level, where 'psychologically' we should all be at our best.
The protagonists are four Danish school teachers at the same school who decide to test this hypothesis with mostly disastrous results; like all good drinkers they either forget when to stop or simply choose not to. But Vinterberg's film isn't so much about the alcohol as it is about four sad men whose lives have stagnated and who find that drinking actually makes them happy in ways that sobriety never could. It doesn't hold back on the dangers but neither is it an outright condemnation. Ultimately this is a character study with alcohol a supporting player, albeit a major one.
It's also superbly acted and in particular by Thomas Bo Larsen as the sports teacher who really doesn't know when to stop and by Mads Mikkelsen, in what might be a career-best performance, as the history teacher caught in a failing marriage and it's Mikkelsen who delivers the film's coup-de-theatre, performing a remarkable dance sequence at the climax that could just earn him an Oscar nomination. "Festen" not withstanding, this might also be Vinterberg's best film to date and, as predicted, if does win the Best International Film Oscar it will, indeed, be a worthy winner.
No comments:
Post a Comment