Another Round
2020 · Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Original language: Danish
- drama
The story
Four stagnant high school teachers decide to test out a theory that maintaining a constant level of intoxication will improve their overall lives.
What it’s like
Cool, grey Copenhagen daylight through school windows and dim, wood-panelled bars at night, with the camera mostly holding still on faces and tables while the handheld moments tip into looseness as the drinking takes hold. The palette is muted blues and greys that warm into amber and candlelit gold, and the soundtrack leans on Scandinavian pop and rock, with the music rising and falling alongside the characters' moods. The pace is unhurried and conversational, with long quiet stretches of men talking over a meal or a pint, and the tone sits in a bittersweet middle register: funny, melancholy, and often uneasy. Its four middle-aged men are stuck in dull routines and slowly reckon with what they have lost, and the film is frank about alcohol's pleasures and its damage. Expect some sustained drinking, a few scenes of drunken chaos and a serious, hard-edged final act, but no graphic violence and little gore. It suits a quiet evening or a thoughtful, sober-minded rewatch, and it is for people who enjoy character-driven Nordic drama with a dark streak and a real sense of place.
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