a review of 酒精计划

I'm a Vinterberg aficionado ever since I saw his brilliant Festen, and I was also very impressed by Jagten (The Hunt). Add my man crush Mads Mikkelsen to the mix and things almost couldn't go wrong anymore, and indeed, Vinterberg impressed me once again with Druk, a film about the fine line between alcohol use and abuse, with Mads giving away the best performance as an introvert teacher who opens up when he decides to have a drink before he enters the classroom. Typically, you expect a film about alcohol (ab)use to contain a (heavy) moral message. But morals are for hypocritical Hollywood films, not for a Danish production. In fact, a film hasn't made me this thirsty for a fine glass of spirit since I saw Barfly (1987). Of course, Druk does cover the pitfall of alcoholism, but without desperately trying to teach the viewer a lesson. You might even argue that overall, Druk slightly glorifies alcohol use, despite the included drawbacks.