Another Round

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (Festen, The Hunt) is at the helm of this conceptually irresistible comedy drama in which four schoolteacher friends make a pact to spend their working days in a state of controlled inebriation. Inspired by the midlife slump of Mads Mikkelsen's protagonist Martin, who is phoning in his lessons and whose marriage is on the rocks, the quartet (who also include Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe and Magnus Millang) decide maintaining a modest blood alcohol content will give them the confidence and courage they need to thrive. After initial success, things predictably spiral and they begin hitting it as hard as the seniors they teach. Mikkelsen is completely mesmerising as a man who has virtually faded away, before he learns to enjoy life again. Vinterberg records his every facial inflection with roving, probing camerawork that's often woozy enough to emulate the men's sozzled state and that, in its intimacy, encourages us to empathise with them, too. Drunkenness has rarely been done this well on screen, and Another Round convincingly captures the hilarious highs and devastating lows of a wonderfully ridiculous experiment, as the characters slur, dance and stumble their way to an absolutely sensational ending.