Another Round : A Story Of Giving Life A Second Chance

 

A Love Affair With Mid-life crisis:

When young people live their lives rapidly on the wheels of ambition and goals, they are no different from a dog chasing a car. Because both of them have no idea about what they will do when the chase is finally over. But luckily, the invincibility of the youth is mainly built on the pillar of ignoring the thought till tomorrow.

But as a person grows old, that invincibility fades away and soon gets replaced by questions of existence. And Voila! Say hello to a Mid-life crisis. The point is when you grow up, you become either of the two people- one who has achieved everything they wanted to - or one who compromised somewhere in the middle. And in most cases, it is the latter one. However, when the mid-life crisis knocks on your door, it does not differentiate, as it asks both persons the same set of questions - Why are you doing what you are doing? For how long will you be doing that? Is this really what you want to do? And when questions like that bang your door, you either fall or you get free.

Another Round is a movie that depicts the melancholic love affair which some adults generally have with a mid-life crisis. The movie is directed by Thomas Vinterberg and released in late 2020 in its original danish title "Druk" which roughly translates to 'Binge Drinking'. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, and Lars Ranthe.

Real Life Is A Little Gritty:

The real beauty of a movie lies in whether it can make the viewer think, especially after the movie is over. Now that can happen in many ways - you can take the Star Wars route of fantasy imagination - or The Imitation Game path of historical what-ifs - or as in this case, by bringing out the gritty realistic effect of life which the viewer had experienced - or is currently experiencing - or anticipates the possibility of experiencing in the future.

The plot of the film revolves around four teachers named Martin, Nikolaj, Peter, and Tommy who are good friends and teachers in the same school. They teach the subjects of history, psychology, music, and sports respectively. And here we see the first speck of brilliance of the writers, who crafted the characters so meticulously, that almost every viewer can see themselves in the shoes of at least one if not all of the main characters at some point in their life. And although the social aspect and the statuses of the four characters are vastly different, they find a similar tonality at the hands of the same visitor who knocks on their door differently, Mid-life crisis.

Martin's mid-life crisis is his life's utter monotonicity, Nikolaj's mid-life crisis is the non-fulfillment of his peak potential, Peter is still searching for a piece of lady luck and Tommy lives alone with his dog Laban who can't even pee by itself.

Adventures Run On All Sort Of Whiskeys:

The film introduces a concept or hypothesis by renowned Norweigan psychotherapist Finn Skårderud who made an unconventional suggestion that human beings are born with 0.05% less of the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), which in retrospect suggests that if a person ingests enough alcohol to bring their BAC up by 0.05%, then they will feel more creative and relaxed.

The psychology teacher, Nikolaj brings the topic up over a group dinner on his birthday. And Martin heroically decides to put the theory to test, the next day, by consuming a sip of Smirnoff just before entering his class. And right away he notices a change in the gears of his teaching. No sooner after that, he discloses his small little secret to the gang, who unanimously decides to try it out on themselves for the sake of science and to write a follow-up thesis paper on the results they obtain at the end of it.

And scarcely after that, the gang starts seeing a dramatic difference in their lives. Starting from the general mood upliftment, all the way up to an inspired burst of creativity. The gang almost feels like they have finally found the trick to life. The relationships in their personal life were improving, and there was a drastic positive change in their professional environment. All in all, they felt free from the knock of a mid-life crisis, for once.

Even Theories Have Exceptions:

And just like the way it happens in real life, one drink led to one too many and soon the gang finds itself battling their bouts with alcoholism. Which in turn starts having adverse effects on all spheres of their lives. There is a reason why psychological experiments are performed by professionals under controlled environments, as in this case there is a bleak line between investing yourself in science and divulging into becoming alcoholics. And these four blokes were no professionals.

The film quite diligently shows the demons of alcoholism as it very subtly touches upon the topics of divorce, social ostracization, and all the way up to suicide. Yes, real life is not that pretty. Real addiction is not that poetic. Alcohol has been responsible for ruining a million families over decades. And that is mainly because striking the right balance of BAC is something that is never well researched and hardly ever discussed in society.

As the gang struggles to stay up on their feet, the writers once again show their sparkle as they make the struggle reflect the indomitable human spirit of never giving up. And from there, it is a Mads Mikkelsen tour de force. Mikkelsen's character Martin, breaks, gathers himself, breaks again, but never gives up on the things he knows are the most important in his life - his family, his students. And well though, there are no spoilers here on how the movie ends, but expect realism.

Verdict: Friendship Is The Elixir Of Life

Another Round is an ode to the Dutch culture of drinking, the haunting beauty of growing old and most importantly a life lesson on that fact there will always be a few obstacles in life where science and society won't help you, but a group of crazy friends will definitely get you through to the other side. A worthy nomination for the Academy Awards 2021 in the category of the best international feature film, the director Thomas Vinterberg has valiantly taken up a topic that is both frowned upon and needed for celebration across the world.

Besides that, it’s a film that is proud to be deeply Danish. It is as picturesque as its stirring choral renditions of patriotic songs. It pulls a nice opportunity for the uninitiated to have a look into some of the Danish cultural peculiarities, particularly in their schooling. As we see, that the final exams are verbal affairs opposite your usual teachers and you get a little hat when you pass. What? Yep. Vinterberg pulls it all off stylishly, with clean interior shots of the school, beautiful homes, and high-end restaurants. And offcourse, mentioning again, the proud dutch drinking culture has been spectacularly shown across the various scenes of the movie.

The movie ends with a dazzling Jazz-Ballet performance by Mads Mikkelsen which acts as nothing less than icing on the cake of a scintillating display of impeccable acting, mesmerizing visuals, and a heart-wrenching reality about the natural process of growing old. And offcourse the main idea that the movie vehemently resonates with, is that all lives are tough, but it feels just a little bit easy when you have good friends and a pint of beer around.