Four listless middle-aged teachers, bored with the course of their seemingly bland lives, and profoundly uninterested in teaching their increasingly inattentive students, make a pact to start adding more alcohol to their everyday lives in order to shake things up in the Oscar Award- winning Danish film Another Round. It will be screened by cineSarnia at the Sarnia Public Library Theater on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 pm and Monday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 pm
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt) and starring one of Denmark’s most well-known movie stars Mads Mikklesen (Casino Royale, Rogue One), Another Round is a fascinating, funny and profound story about four men using alcohol as a means to break out of their middle-age funk.
During a birthday dinner, as they are getting progressively drunker, Mikklesen’s character Martin suggests that the group take part in an ‘experiment’.
According to a theory formulated by famous Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud (“He’s not just some guy,” said cineSarina’s Daniel DeVries. “He was the psychiatrist for the Norwegian Olympic team, though he said he was misquoted with regards to this theory.”) the natural blood alcohol level in humans is too low; therefore, the teachers agree to maintain the ‘proper’ blood alcohol level of 0.05 per cent by consuming whiskey and vodka throughout the day.
The four hope this undertaking – done as a scientific experiment of sorts and in the spirit of famous tipplers Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill – will somehow halt the overwhelming sense of inertia they feel and inject an excitement they haven’t felt since adolescence.
Initially, the exuberance of day-drinking stimulates the men both professionally and in their personal lives, but predictably excessive alcohol consumption inevitably disrupts their once-stable lives.
Vinterberg masterfully takes audiences on a provocative and stimulating journey with Another Round – at times the movie is dark, at times it is funny, and the film takes several unexpected and exhilarating turns. This is in spite of the fact that Vinterberg’s real-life daughter, who convinced him to make the movie, died in an accident early on during filming. DeVries said following the death of his daughter, the director felt compelled to honor her by making the movie more life-affirming. “His daughter Ida died four days into the filming, and some of the scenes were filmed in her classroom with some of her classmates, which adds an interesting touch to the film,” DeVries said. “Its world premiere took place at TIFF and this thing as won 12 best film awards around the world. I think audiences can relate to it and will thoroughly enjoy it, too.”
One of the most-talked about scenes takes place near the end of the film, DeVries said, when Mikklesen’s character performs a dance recalled the Greek myth, the story of Daedalus and Icarus, specifically Icarus’ fall from the sky.
“Mikklesen, who is a former gymnast and a one-time professional dancer, has this incredible dance at the end of the film, right at the edge of the harbor,” he said. “One critic said that his dance sequence beats anything by Fred Astaire.”
Another Round will be playing at the Sarnia Public Library Theater on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 pm and Monday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 pm
Rush tickets are available at 1:45 pm on Sunday and at 7:15 pm on Monday for $12. Individual tickets and winter season passes are available at www.cinesarnia.com. The elevator for the library will be working on Sunday from 1:15 to 2 pm and on Monday from 6:45 to 7:30 pm
cineSarnia’s next film will be Buffy Saint-Marie: Carry It On, on Dec. 4 and 5.