Why the film "One More" earned an Oscar

At the Oscars-2021 in the category "Best Foreign Film" won the Danish film "One More". This is not surprising, because many who watched the film noted the level of production and a very unusual plot. In the director's nomination, Thomas Winterberg lost to Chloe Zhao, who filmed the favorite of the "Land of the Nomads" ceremony.

"One More Time" also won BAFTA and Cesar, five Robert Awards in Denmark and four from the European Film Academy.

We tell you why Winterberg's work is worthy of all its awards and definitely deserves to be paid attention to.

Unexpected plot and moral

Four friends work at a Danish school. Each of them has problems in life: loneliness, omissions in the family, lack of pleasure in their work. One day the heroes are going to celebrate the fortieth birthday of one of them - Nicholas (Magnus Millang). The hero of the day tells his friends about the hypothesis of the scientist Finn Skerderud, which states that a person suffers from a lack of alcohol in his blood all his life. Therefore, to maintain your level of happiness, you need to drink every day. The men decide to experiment and consume a small dose of alcohol daily. Because of this, the life of each of them changes.

If you know nothing at all about the film or about its creator, then at the first minutes it may seem that the plot will follow one of two schemes. Or it will turn into a typical propaganda in the style of "alcohol is evil" and tell how drinking alcohol destroys the lives of characters. Or it will be built like an ordinary comedy like "Peculiarities of the National Hunt", where all the humor is based on drunken antics.

But the picture was shot by Thomas Winterberg - the master of living human drama, who created "The Hunt" and "Triumph". This author perfectly knows how to show not stereotypes, but real people with all the complexities of characters. No wonder he builds a plot on the life of not one, but four heroes at once. Moreover, Winterberg is a Dane, a representative of one of the most drinking nations in Europe, and even suffering from Danish teens still European champs at drinking from teenage alcoholism. No wonder in the tape "One more" the phrase will sound: "Our whole country is drinking too much."

Alcohol in the frame is consumed not only by the main characters, but also by their students. And few would dare to show it without the negative. For one student, drinking helps to pass the exam.

The film does not go into either condemnation or glorification of drunkenness. The director very boldly makes alcohol not an independent problem, but only a catalyst. Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) he helps to overcome internal limitations, to become more decisive, which helps him in his work. And in his personal life he had many problems even without drinking. But Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen) completely loses himself. His passion for self-destruction only becomes more evident.

Once Winterberg, together with Lars von Trier, founded the Dogma 95 movement, which called for filming as naturalistic as possible and abandoning complex form in favor of content. Of course, the film "One more at a time" does not correspond to this principle: the film is staged very elegantly, and there is a lot of fiction in it. Nevertheless, the director retained his ability to show real life and believable events. Therefore, each of the heroes wants to believe and you have to worry about each one.

Combination of genres

A great advantage of the new director's work is the ease of presentation. In the past, Winterberg used a dark drama to build his narrative. His previous collaboration with Mads Mikkelsen, The Hunt, literally plunged the protagonist into a depressive state.

It is all the more surprising that the plot of the film "One more at a time" resembles a typical comedy, which could have been filmed either in the USA or in Russia. Heroes fervently drink, come up with witty ways not to get caught at work, have fun and dance.

But the subtlety of the picture is that it itself is built like a party with alcohol. The feeling of celebration and euphoria gradually permeates notes of depression.

Very soon the plot turns into a personal drama. And this allows you to look at the characters differently. Moreover, historical shots are also added to the artistic picture, including those with the antics of Boris Yeltsin familiar to the Russian viewer.

The tragedy of the heroes is that alcohol serves only as a temporary escape from the world. It allows you to return to the old days, when there were no problems with family and health and it seemed that everything was still ahead. But instead of the expected catharsis and the disclosure of internal resources, friends receive only intoxication.

Mads Mikkelsen's incredible performance

Initially, the film tells about all four friends equally. But very soon it becomes clear that Martin performed by Mikkelsen is the main star of the picture. This actor is also loved by another famous Dane - Nicholas Winding Refn.

The thing is that Mads Mikkelsen in any way manages to maintain a complete feeling of relaxation, as if he was always playing himself. In the new picture, his speech sounds as natural as possible (it is better to include the original sound here), and brooding looks sometimes speak more than long monologues.

He manages to drink in the frame with such pleasure that doubts arise: were the actors given props, and not real alcohol?

Well, the final dance of the character is perhaps the only thing that can interrupt the delight of Christopher Walken's performance in the Weapon Of Choice video. The scene instantly broke into memes. This is catharsis, both sad and enchanting, which the hero has been waiting for.

Thomas Winterberg was nominated for an Oscar for the first time as a director. And this is already an important recognition in him of a mass stage director, whose works are understandable not only in Europe. And the award to the painting “One more at a time” will surely open up more opportunities for the talented author.

And this is very good. After all, Winterberg's film will touch any viewer, even not too familiar with the problem of alcohol addiction. The heroes of this story seem close and understandable, and literally everyone can face their difficulties. The tape does not seek to condemn or justify anyone. It just helps to think, makes you feel a little sad, but at the same time laugh heartily.