Another Round – Tragicomedy Movie 2020

A Crisis

The film is about four school teachers named Martin, Peter, Tommy, and Nikolaj who encounter their midlife crisis and suffer from everyday slumps. The film centers on Martin. He thinks that he has been invisible in his life and is not as motivated and energetic as he used to be. Even Anika, his wife, reminds him of this issue. As a teacher, he is not effective anymore which should be a key characteristic of being a teacher. He feels the lack of love and youthfulness in his midlife.

We first see these teachers altogether at Nikolaj’s 40th  birthday party in a restaurant. Nikolaj proposes the theory of a Norwegian psychotherapist named Finn Skarderud who believes that to conquer the tension and stress of life we need to drink 1-2 glasses of wine as the human body is 0.05% deficient in alcohol to reach its ideal level. They agree to start drinking and record the result as scientific research, and decide to drink during working hours and none on the weekends. At first, the changes are great and quick both in their personal and professional lives. Then Martin starts to increase the level as he thinks that things might work better with more alcohol, but that’s not going to work.

Youthfulness and Love

The film is about praising the liveliness of being young and dynamic. It starts with these words: “what is youth? A dream. What is love? The content of the dream”. Then we see an exciting scene in which the students are at a fun party around a lake living in pleasure. This is what Martin needs: the youth vibes. The story does not intend to talk about the positive or negative aspects of drinking alcohol, but exploits it as a tool to portray the transformation of a depressed history teacher to be lively and to find his answers about life.

A Second Chance

At first glance, the movie sounds like an entertaining comedy, but deep into the layers it is something dark and tragic. Another round recalls us to start again, but this time with love, because life without love would be dry and unpleasant. We might have missed the chance of more enjoyment, but are hopeful that we still have time for another round.

Keywords:

   Encounter: to experience or face something, especially problems or opposition

   Crisis: a time when a  personal emotional problem or situation has reached its worst point

   Everyday Slump: a drop in the quality of life

   Youthfulness: the quality of being similar to or typical of young people

   Transformation: a complete  change in someone or something

   Exploit:  to use something fully and effectively

Another Round (2020)

   Director: Thomas Vinterberg

   Genre: Drama & Comedy

   Main Characters: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe

   Running Time: 1h 57m

Another Round 2020

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