Another Round Review – Affecting and Poignant, A Bittersweet Dramady

Another Round, featured at the AFI European Union Film Festival, presents a story of friendship, as four middle-aged men realize they are living a monotonous existence, having lost life's enthusiasm, embark on a social experiment.

 

The film begins in High School, as our four friends, all teachers, played by Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, and Lars Ranthe, are stuck, mid-semester having lost their drive, they are simply living a robotic daily existence.


 

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A fortieth dinner party with just the four, no spouses, become the turning point as they each begin to reveal their despondency with life, career, home, and marriage, all the accoutrements which usually provide stability.

Suddenly the four decide to take on what is called a social experiment. Over the course of the dinner, each, as educators are full of jeopardy knowledge, and the conversation moves toward a theory that the body is born with a negative .05 percent alcohol level and replenishing that daily will lead to a renewed zest for life.

So, they propose to test the theory that maintaining a constant level of alcohol in one's blood is the key to happiness, creativity, and success. So, with strict guidelines, as any qualified theoretician would mandate, they set up strict times for consuming alcohol with equally strict time for no alcohol.


 

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This, of course, sets up the second act. The experiment begins with the four experiencing across-the-board positive results. A few glitches but soon they are flying high, the appetite and passion for teaching and life has returned. Overtime as the four continue we see wild, falling-down, drunkenness that embodies alcohol extremes.

Hiding their behavior from colleagues, soon the four have lost more than they have gained throughout this last grasp at energizing their lives, having it all and keeping it alive. Well received by audiences around the world, Another Round, is a feel-good/feel-bad comedy about friendship, family, getting hammered and growing up.

A bittersweet tragicomedy, the cast show solid depth as each take on two entirely different characters, the stable educator with all its colors and the uncontrollable alcoholic and the immense range from mild to wild and worse. They each capture the essence of each character.


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Excellent performances, affecting and poignant, Another Round doesn't shy away from the ravages of alcoholism and the fact that for addictive personalities leaving it all behind when it threatens to overthrow isn't easy and often impossible.

An AFI European Union Film Festival U.S. premiere, Another Round is also an Audience Award and Narrative Feature Winner at the 2020 London Film Festival; Winner, Feroz Zinemaldia Award, SIGNIS Award and Silver Seashell for Best Actor (Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe), 2020 San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Another Round is also an Official Selection for the 2020 Cannes, Toronto, Rome, Vienna, Reykjavik, Moscow and Hamburg film festivals. Another Round is the 2020 Oscar® Selection, Denmark.


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Another Round is available to viewers located anywhere in the United States and U.S. Territories via this link https://afieu.eventive.org/welcome

Year – 2020.

Runtime - 117 minutes.

Language - Danish, Swedish with English subtitles.

Country - Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands.

Director - Thomas Vinterberg.

Screenwriter - Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm.

Producer - Kasper Dissing, Sisse Graum Jørgensen.

Cast - Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe.

Image courtesy of AFI European Union Film Festival. #AFIFilmeu

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