Another Round

Martin, a high school teacher in Copenhagen, shuffles through the hallways as if he hasn’t slept in years. He’s not the only one. His three colleagues—a music teacher, a gym instructor, and a washed-up philosopher—share the same glazed look, the same forced smile that fades by five in the afternoon. Until one day, over glasses of cheap wine, the philosopher drops a theory: humans are born with a 0.05% blood alcohol deficit. Maintaining that level, he claims, citing studies, boosts performance, creativity, and even happiness. Science or just an excuse? It doesn’t matter. The four men dive into an experiment: drinking during work hours, measuring the effects, and seeing how far they can push it.

What starts as a drunken game in lab coats turns into something darker. At first, it’s fun: classes are livelier, laughter comes easier, even the school principal seems less like a monster. But when alcohol stops being a trick and becomes a necessity, the film takes a darker turn. There’s no easy moral. Director Thomas Vinterberg doesn’t judge; he simply shows how four ordinary men—burdened by mortgages, broken marriages, and middle-aged dreams—try to outrun boredom with a bottle. And how, sometimes, the trick works… until it doesn’t.

This isn’t a film about alcoholism, but about that thin line between what saves us and what destroys us. The cast—especially Mads Mikkelsen, who carries the group’s weight as if it were his own shadow—brings a rawness that stings. It won the Oscar for Best International Feature and the BAFTA for Best Foreign Film, but what lingers isn’t the awards. It’s that scene where Martin dances drunk at a wedding, alone, eyes closed, as if he’s finally found something that makes him feel alive. Or something that numbs him completely.

Vinterberg captures existential intoxication with a rawness that stings and a euphoria that mesmerizes. Drink responsibly, but watch it sober.

" Alcohol is the answer. The question is: what was the question? — Nicolaj

" We’re already dead. We just don’t know it yet. — Martin