Another Round (Original title Druk) is a 2020 drama about four friends, all high school teachers, who test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.
Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) is a schoolteacher, father of two, and a husband. That’s it. He’s nothing else. He can’t be anything else. He doesn’t know what else to be. When his wife is around, his presence is remarkably secondary. The same happens with his children. Think about you, and think if you are not another version of Martin, an ordinary being that lives because he or she is supposed to, and not because there’s a clear purpose or something to be achieved.
The first act of Another Round could be the story of your life, at least one part of it. And what goes on after an unsought realization by Martin could be the life you must live in order to understand your real purpose. I don’t think Another Round as a melodramatic comedy film about an old guy who one day decides he’s going to live his life. It’s actually more than that. If you’ve always lived in a cocoon of culture, traditions and suppositions, would you pay a very high price to see what you could be outside of that cocoon? That glance at your other self is the main theme of one of 2020’s most honest films, Another Round.
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round tells the story of Martin, a schoolteacher with a very plain and full life. During a birthday dinner with his friends, Martin decides to test a theory one of his friends tells a story about. If you can maintain your blood alcohol content at a certain level you will be more creative because you will be more relaxed. The next morning Martin decides to give it a try. A pinch of attention by his students makes him tell his friends about the experiment. They all decide to accompany him in this insane trial. It goes without saying these guys are not specialists in the matter.
More so, the improvisation and the lack of rules don’t take long to affect the group. When they think they can control it, they realize that they’re wrong. A train at full speed is likely to cause a disaster, and sometimes the brakes don’t work.
Most of Another Round takes place in a fun conversation between Martin and his friend. They fight and love each other the way we would like to if we have those kind of friends around. It’s not a complex movie that asks its question excessively. We know things won’t end well for the group and we’re just waiting for the plane to land so they can realize what’s questionable about what they’re doing.
But is it? Aside from the substance abuse the movie massively shows, these are men that are trying to be relevant in the society that has accused them of being dull, boring and ordinary. They’re not looking for anything else. However, encountering the inevitable consequence overshadows the third act and makes it a strong film about karma. Yes, it’s an adult version of a “coming of age” film
Because it could be the story of those around you and maybe your peers need help realizing they’re more important than they think. The resolution in Another Round is quite tragic, but consider that dancing scene at the end. That is a celebration everyone should be allowed to have. We all deserve it. We all live in the same world. And we all deserve the life we’ve always dreamed of.