Druk [aka Another Round]

 2020, d. Thomas Vinterberg - rental

Look, Hannibal made lifelong fans of Mads Mikkelsen for all of its viewers, guaranteed.  I need to start filling my Mads gap, as I haven't been a good fan, mainly tracking him along his mainstream fare (your Star Warses and your Marvel movies and your countless rewatches of Casino Royale).  But why not start with his latest, a Danish homeland film from director Thomas Vinterberg (who he collaborated with on The Hunt --  a much different The Hunt than this one)?  

The set up seems like a perfect entry point to non-genre Mads: four friends -- all teachers, all very grown-up and past middle-aged -- decide to venture on an experiment (aka "stupid boy project") to maintain a level of drunkeness at all times.  Mads as Martin is the central figure, unable to sustain the interest of his history class (to the point that the kids and their parents confront him on his inadequate lessons), his kids are teens who likewise have no interest in him, and his wife works night shifts as a nurse, so they barely cross paths.  Life is not going the way he expected back when he was a joyful jazz dancer (a nice nod to Mikkelsen's actual background, while also playing the part of "Checkov's dancer", because you know he's got to go off and dance at some point), and his life seems to be passing him by, lacking any real enjoyment.

The experiment is to wake up, have two drinks, and maintain that level of drunkenness until the end of the work day.  Of course, alcohol as we *should* all know is addictive, and a depressant, as well as an inhibition loosener, so you can predict how this is going to go.  Maintaining a steady buzz loosens Martin and his colleagues up as teachers, being less rigid showing greater connection with their students, leading to a greater sense of pride and fulfillment. Not to mention they're finding true enjoyment in life.  Martin's boys aren't sure what to make of their new "fun" Dad, while his wife is surprised by his newfound joie-de-vivre, and they reconnect, somewhat as a family.  Everyone knows something is a bit amiss. As well, feeling quite nice all day, then coming off of that for the evening and weekend, as was the plan in this "controlled experiment" quickly goes off book.  Going overboard is all to easy.

The movie juggles both tense, realistic drama, with the ecstatic nature of alcoholic liberation quite well, but all those quite delightful moments of revelry are underpinned with the acute awareness that the other shoe is going to drop at any time.  As such, the boisterous ending, where Checkov's dancer goes off, is almost the flipside where the shoe has already dropped, some bad things have happened, but sometimes you just need to have a glass of champagne and dance.  Enjoying life in its darker moments is kind of the ultimate message of the film.  It's a celebration of alcohol as a tool, but also a warning of it being a crutch.  Tread freely, but lightly.

The cast is delightful, as well as heartbreaking, each of the four key players (including Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, and Magnus Millang) managing the different levels of drunkenness without that usual acterly exaggeration.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Vinterberg, a Dogme95 founder, didn't have the cast regularly imbibe throughout the production to get them into tippy-top/bottoms-up shape.