{"id":93327,"date":"2020-10-20T14:16:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/thomas-vinterbergs-another-round-cant-escape-its-own-hangover\/"},"modified":"2020-10-20T14:16:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:16:35","slug":"thomas-vinterbergs-another-round-cant-escape-its-own-hangover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/thomas-vinterbergs-another-round-cant-escape-its-own-hangover\/","title":{"rendered":"#Thomas Vinterberg&#8217;s \u2018Another Round\u2019 Can\u2019t Escape Its Own Hangover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Thomas Vinterberg&#8217;s \u2018Another Round\u2019 Can\u2019t Escape Its Own Hangover<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.7--><strong>Thomas Vinterberg<\/strong>\u2019s <strong><em>Another Round<\/em><\/strong> is bookended by Scarlet Pleasure\u2019s \u201cWhat A Life,\u201d a synthy party number that co-opts the melody of the Italian resistance anthem \u201cBella Ciao\u201d for its celebration-cum-lamentation of youthful hedonism. The first time we hear it, it\u2019s playing over scenes of high schoolers binge-drinking and mischief-making, the wild atmosphere of the visuals accentuating the most carefree of its lyrics: \u201cWhat a life, what a night \/ What a beautiful, beautiful ride \/ Don\u2019t know where I\u2019m in five, but I\u2019m young and alive\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By the film\u2019s end, \u201cWhat A Life\u201d has taken on fresh significance, the darker suggestions lurking under its lyrics having been drawn out by the events that transpire between the needle-drops. The song has now been transformed into an ironic commentary on both the nostalgic obsessions of the movie\u2019s middle-aged characters and the warped psychology of addiction: \u201c\u2026But it makes me terrified \/ To be on the other side \/ How long before I go insane?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a neat juxtapositional device and a microcosm of the duality that\u2019s at the heart of <em>Another Round<\/em>. A compatriot of notorious agitator and fell Danish auteuer Lars von Trier (with whom he co-founded the Dogme 95 movement), Vinterberg often uses his films to pose provocative <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> questions. Here, his focus is on alcohol \u2014 namely, whether it has perhaps been unfairly over-problematized.<\/p>\n<p><em>Another Round<\/em> follows four high school teachers as they test out a theory proposed by Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Sk\u00e5rderud, who once suggested that all humans are born with a blood alcohol concentration 0.05% too low. The idea is that maintaining a steady level of alcohol in your system (about two glasses of wine\u2019s worth) brings you up to optimum performance, thereby maximizing your personal and professional h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>iness. As <strong>Magnus Millang<\/strong>\u2019s character Nikolaj puts it in the film, not only are you more \u201crelaxed\u201d and \u201cpoised\u201d when you\u2019ve had a few, but you forget your fear, and life takes on a \u201cmusical\u201d quality instead.<\/p>\n<p>Nikolaj and his buddies \u2013 Martin (<strong>Mads Mikkelsen<\/strong>), Tommy (<strong>Thomas Bo Larsen<\/strong>), and Peter (<strong>Lars Ranthe<\/strong>) \u2013 all have their own reasons for being attracted to Sk\u00e5rderud\u2019s theory. For PE teacher Tommy and choirmaster Peter, the bachelor life has begun to lose some of its glamour in middle age. Psychology teacher Nikolaj is motivated by (somewhat pseudo-) intellectual curiosity, while Martin, a former PhD candidate and jazz ballet dancer, is a dreary shadow of his former self, as dull in the classroom as he is in his tired marriage.<\/p>\n<p>Martin\u2019s case unites the binary positions suggested by the film\u2019s polarizing premise: he has the most to gain and the most to lose from the experiment, and so it\u2019s Mikkelsen\u2019s character who forms the logical centerpoint of Vinterberg\u2019s narrative. Playing a teetotaller in the film\u2019s early scenes, he drains himself of all his natural star-making charisma, tapping in to the natural stoniness of his features to suggest a genuine inner deadness. Once the drinks start flowing, things brighten up \u2014 literally: the lighting takes on a cheerier glow \u2014 and Mikkelsen channels <em>Dead Poets Society <\/em>in some riotous off-syllabus lessons about the alcoholic tendencies of cultural and political titans like Hemingway and Churchill.<\/p>\n<p>On the other end of the spectrum is Nikolaj, played with a wry sense of farcicality by sleeper star Millang. As is often the case, the friends\u2019 inevitably doomed scheme is first suggested and spearheaded by the member who has the least to worry about. Happily married and raising a young family, Nikolaj has the luxury of not needing the experiment \u2013 he\u2019s really just drawn to Sk\u00e5rderud\u2019s ideas by a teenager\u2019s knee-jerk attraction to the subversive. The late director Agn\u00e8s Varda\u2019s description of the adulterous protagonist of her film <em>Le Bonheur<\/em> as a man who thinks he can \u201cadd happiness to happiness\u201d applies here: Nikolaj is fundamentally just greedy.<\/p>\n<p>That greed is infectious: once the men start seeing the benefits of keeping a small buzz going, they unsurprisingly want more, and so the 0.05% blood alcohol limit is doubled and then some. Inevitably, things begin to turn sour, but the predictability of some events isn\u2019t necessarily a problem for the film, because it underscores Vinterberg\u2019s point: that most of the time, we only really hear one side of the alcohol debate.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a thrillingly original premise, and before the novelty wears off, <em>Another Round<\/em> does fizz with imaginative promise. It\u2019s subversively fascinating, for example, to see moments usually coded as pitiful hallmarks of addiction \u2013 like Martin sneaking sips of vodka in between classes \u2013 receive counter-intuitively positive framing here.<\/p>\n<p>Another scene, a rapturous, impromptu ballet solo performed on the harbor, borders on transcendental, both because of how sensationally impromptu it is and because of its sheer spectacle. Stylistically, it\u2019s a bolt from the blue: like the choreography, <strong>Sturla Brandth Gr\u00f8vlen<\/strong>\u2019s cinematography suddenly transfigures into that of a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM\">Sia music video<\/a>, the camera soaring and diving around the dancer where it had previously mimicked the unsteady footing and lethargy of the movie\u2019s drinkers.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with <em>Another Round <\/em>is that, narratively, nothing in the film upends our expectations anywhere near as radically. It never succeeds in its implicit goal of changing our minds: the fair hearing that Vinterberg insists on giving alcohol only delivers the same verdict. What positives the men do experience as a result of their drinking are vastly, profoundly outweighed by the negatives, and some are even flagrantly contrived \u2014 how does a soccer coach\u2019s drinking, for example, transform the quiet kid at practice into a star scorer?<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, if Vinterberg wasn\u2019t so grimly persistent about insisting that alcohol can do as much good as it can bad, there\u2019s a chance the film could deliver a profound answer to its radical question. As it is, though, <em>Another Round<\/em>\u2019s stubbornness undermines any nuance it might have unearthed, and its final scenes, in particular, feel oblivious to their own sinister implications, given what we know about the cyclical nature of addiction. Intended as a sparkling toast to life, <em>Another Round<\/em>\u2019s ominous notes can\u2019t help but override its sweeter moments, leaving a bitter, cautionary taste in your mouth.\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/another-round\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=another-round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Thomas Vinterberg&#8217;s \u2018Another Round\u2019 Can\u2019t Escape Its Own Hangover&#8221; Thomas Vinterberg\u2019s Another Round is bookended by Scarlet Pleasure\u2019s \u201cWhat A Life,\u201d a synthy party number that co-opts the melody of the Italian resistance anthem \u201cBella Ciao\u201d for its celebration-cum-lamentation of youthful hedonism. The first time we hear it, it\u2019s playing over scenes of high schoolers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/another-round-mads-mikkelsen.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[76224,68309,3908,3909],"class_list":["post-93327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-lff","tag-london-film-festival","tag-mads-mikkelsen","tag-thomas-vinterberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}