Another Round

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s (The Hunt) intoxicatingly good film takes us on the journey of four Danish schoolteachers who make a pact to keep their blood alcohol content at a constant level in the hope it will improve the quality of their lives. The idea is that a constant, low-level buzz releases stress.

Mads Mikkelsen (TV's Hannibal) plays Martin, a listless history teacher whose marriage and job are on the brink of crumbling. He and his scholastic buddies decide to test a hypothesis: that the body’s natural alcohol content is a couple drinks too low. Pretty soon the students in his dead-silent classes perk up with Dead Poet's Society enthusiasm and his marriage has a rise. In fact, all of the men's lives take a turn to the positive.

Spoiler alert: absinthe is almost always a bad idea. The original Danish title of Another Round is Druk, so it's not shocking that the sense of an impending crash pairs with every moment of +.05% BAC success. However, I still found surprise and delight in the final arc of the film.

Vinterberg said the idea came from when he and co-writer Tobias Lindholm looked at how many accomplishments in world history had been achieved by people who were drunk. 

The final scene lands midair, suspending us in the moment. It's magical, high-craft cinema and it's why the director of a Danish, international film landed one of the five Best Director slots at this year's Oscars — besting Regina King, Aaron Sorkin and Spike Lee.

In a nutshell: Smart, highly-crafted and ultimately moving. Anyone who complains every movie is a remake or a cliche needs to see this. 

Award potential: Nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Directing. The buzz is that it's a lock for International Feature.

Find it: Currently streaming on Hulu.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.