Last days to see it on Max: the film that swept the Oscars and hides a valuable lesson

One of the most acclaimed European titles of the last decade bids farewell to Max. Another Round ( Druk in its original title), directed by Thomas Vinterberg, was undoubtedly one of the biggest winners in Danish cinema in recent years, taking home the Oscar for Best International Feature Film and leaving its mark.

Four professors decide to test a somewhat outlandish theory by Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, according to which human beings are born with a blood alcohol level of 0.05%. The film swept the Oscars with this premise, which, while seemingly absurd, is only the gateway to a deeply human story about life dissatisfaction and the fear of routine.

May 23rd will be the last day to watch it on the Max platform. Those who haven't yet experienced this brilliant tragicomedy have just a few days to discover why it became an international phenomenon. And also to learn the valuable lesson it conveys between the lines: the need to reconnect with the desire to live, even when it seems to have completely faded.

Martin, the protagonist, is going through a crisis as silent as it is devastating. His students consider him apathetic, his family barely notices him, and his friends are equally lost. The alcohol experiment unwittingly becomes a way out for all of them. A path to something resembling happiness , even if it comes with unpredictable side effects.

Laughter and emotion in the same film

The film oscillates between the festive and the heartbreaking. There are drunken binges celebrated like epiphanies and mornings that weigh like stones. The editing moves along in fits and starts , but everything is calculated: it's as if the story falters with each new drunken moment of its characters.

Alcohol here is a symbol, a relief, and, beware, a trap. Vinterberg presents it not as a demon or a savior, but as a mirror: it reflects what's missing inside . The photography even seems to side with the glasses: each shot details their shapes, their shine, their hypnotic attraction: drinking isn't just drinking, it's feeling alive again.

Another Round is, above all, a film about time . The time that's gone, the time that won't return, the time that still remains. Vinterberg, with the help of a splendid Mads Mikkelsen, honestly captures the emotional hangover of middle age. And also the possibility of starting over, no matter how late it may seem.