Another Round

Halfway through Another Round four middle aged men wander around a Danish supermarket looking for fresh cod while out of their minds on Sazerac cocktails, the rye whiskey/absinthe/bitters/sugar blend made famous in New Orleans by jazz musicians and it's quite possibly the funniest thing you'll see onscreen this year. The session continues into the night. It's wild. The kind of night out with friends lockdown would leave you craving. But then comes the hangover. Oh lord, that bastard behind the eyes.

Martin (Mads Mikkelsen, as always superb) has been in a haze for a while now. His wife Anika (Maria Bonnevie) has noticed it, his kids too, his students definitely. At his friend Nikolaj's (Magnus Millang ) birthday he discusses with his friends Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen, the standout performance in a packed field) and Peter (Lars Ranthe), the studies of psychiatrist Finn Skårderud who's been working on the theory that life becomes very enjoyable if you can keep a constant blood alcohol level of 0.05% going. The friends go all in on the theory and their jobs in the school where they all work together become very enjoyable. An enjoyment that leeches into their home lives, with Martin in particular coming out of his shell and reconnecting with his family. The experiment is such a success they decide to up the blood alcohol limit. What could possibly go wrong?

Films about mid life crises are ten a penny but not many are as beautifully drawn as director Thomas Vinterberg's Danish comedy drama, a film that deservedly scooped up the best foreign film Oscar at this year's Academy awards. The moment the plan is mentioned during a vodka fuelled meal you know it's not going to have a happy ending but you'll still have a great time getting there. An emotionally charged one too. Laughter and tears, there's plenty of both here. One change in tone will give you whiplash but it feels like such a natural part of the process that you'll forgive the fact that your grin from two minutes ago has been rapidly replaced with a gut punch. What seemed like a celebration of the joys of liquor becomes a lesson but importantly it never comes with condescension or preachiness, we all knew it was on the way, we've all been there. Slapstick becomes introspection. All of a sudden you're thinking about your own love/hate/love relationship with the sup. It's a hell of a thing when a film can do that to you.

This should have been out last year. It's a movie that would play really well in a crowded, non socially distanced cinema and not just the comedic aspects of the story but the interplay between friends, real, genuine interactions that never feel forced or actorly, the shorthand between old buddies captured perfectly, a simple hand on a shoulder better than a thousand words. The subtle, toxic peer pressure that will always exist between male friends is nailed in a scene soundtracked by Cissy Strut, that ends the next day in outright shame and familial apocalypse. It all builds to an ending you'll recognise from 100 different memes but in the context of the film it feels......well it's not up to anyone else to tell you what to make of the ending because everyone will take something different from it but man, it works. A joyous, poignant moment with a final shot to die for.

Another Round is out in cinemas tomorrow. Casting a knowing eye on masculinity and society, it's a stellar example of what can happen when brilliant performances, assured direction and intelligent writing all come together.