Another Round

Here's another film that undoubtedly will be misunderstood and taken at some misguided face value.  Last year's ANOTHER ROUND, which just copped the Best International Feature Film Oscar, follows a quartet of high school teachers in Copenhagen who bemoan the usual ills of middle age.  Plus, their students are obsessed with their cell phones and have parents who are convinced their lackluster performance falls squarely on the teachers' shoulders.  The men decide, taking a bid from the famed Norwegian shrink Finn Skarderud, to maintain a blood alcohol content of 0.05 at all times.  Never below that level, and also never after 8 PM.  The theory is that one becomes more relaxed and creative with a constant mild level of intoxication.  Can you hear the gears in viewers' heads about now? 

Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) is the history teacher with a troubled marriage.  He's initially reluctant, but is the first to sneak a bottle of vodka in his knapsack at school.  Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen) is the football coach and proud bachelor.  Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) teaches psych and wakes up several mornings to discover his son has peed on him.  Peter (Lars Ranthe) tries to get his kids to sing on key and seems perhaps the most level headed of the group.   Each find they become much better teachers at 0.05.  Martin's wife Anika (Maria Bonnevie) is delighted to be reacquainted with the more spirited fellow she married years before. 

Does this theory sound only a little less suspect than "Davinci sleep", discussed on Seinfeld? Perhaps it is plausible, but the experiment progresses to  a .10 BAC, then binge drinking.  Is there a point of diminishing returns? 

I really liked director Thomas Vinterberg's (co-written by Tobias Linholm) screenplay, but I could just about predict the film's dramatic turn.  A little over an hour into it.  Everything is going so well for these guys that you can hit a stopwatch as to when the other shoe will drop.  So goes the arc of many films, and I'm not complaining.  The moral center of ANOTHER ROUND begins to reveal itself, but the film never moralizes.  Never condemns or necessarily celebrates.  Anyone who takes this film as a battle cry for a daily swig is really missing it, though one's mind does take flight, wondering how sustainable that 0.05 BAC really is, and if maintained, would it really perpetuate a more satisfying life for the imbiber and his subjects?

When you reach the final scene, one of unbridled joy that is entirely earned, you might think on that.  But Vinterberg also features a moment midway through the film when Martin's level is 0.0, and he's enjoying his family on a camping trip.  And enjoying himself.  Maybe a little Stoli, here and there, is the just the prompter needed to reclaim Life.  A proclamation for moderation?   This will also figure into a subplot - certain to be controversial for several viewers - involving a student who is nervous about his exams.

Vinterberg likewise gives his film a pulse of life.  It is visually quite pleasing and paced just right.  He modulates tone quite expertly.   Beware the inevitable American remake.