Another Round

After 10 months of increased quarantine drinking across the country, it’s once again Dry January for the sober-curious. What better film to celebrate the occasion than Another Round, a boozy Danish romp starring Mads Mikkelsen, available in the AFI Silver virtual screening room after playing at its European Union Film Showcase? As washed-up middle-aged Martin, a schoolteacher who’s lost some spring in his step, Mikkelsen is party to a grand experiment. After the exhilaration of a drunken party, Martin and his friends decide to test a hypothesis: What if the optimal blood alcohol level for human beings isn’t 0 percent, but instead somewhere right around a nice buzz, like .5 percent? To find out, they spend much of the movie constantly imbibing, but with rules. (Those quickly go out the window, to no one’s surprise). Thomas Vinterberg‘s feature is marketed as a comedic look at some over-the-hill Scandinavians having a college-style romp, but as any imbiber knows, after the fun comes the hangover. The bad idea Martin and his friends share is predictably bad; after all, alcohol is an addictive drug. But the movie’s more than a morality play—it’s an examination of coming to terms with yourself minus the comforting distraction of drugs and reorienting your priorities after your life feels out of control. If you’re abstaining, watching their comedown in the sober light of day might be just what you need to make it to the end of the month. The film is available to stream at afivsr.eventive.org. $12.