➤ ANOTHER ROUND, from p.23
trajectory is predictable, even occasionally
on-the-nose (as when
a student brings up Kierkegaard’s
notion that acceptance of failure
is key to life), but the details feel
fresh and acutely observed.
The idea of some form of substance
use as a boost to work isn’t
as alien to American life as the plot
of “Another Round.” It’s the reason
caffeine is the one popular recreational
drug with absolutely no restrictions
on its sale. On a level of
more questionable legality, college
students pop Adderrall to write
term papers and tech bros use
nootropics or microdose LSD to try
to become more productive.
This fi lm emphasizes a sense
of failure that’s specifi cally male
and middle class. (Unfortunately,
Martin’s wife has little life beyond
accurately griping about how he
ignores her.) Its quartet of characters
were looking for something
they never received in life, even if
they’re doing fi ne by material standards.
They quickly jump at the
idea of artifi cial stimulation, using
Hemingway and Churchill for
inspiration. Vinterberg supplies a
montage of politicians who were
visibly drunk in public, although
Boris Yeltsin pinching women is a
far cry from writing “The Sun Also
Rises.”
Vinterberg directed the most famous
fi lm to come out of the Dogme
95 movement, “The Celebration”
from 1998. While he only used
its grainy digital video and jumpy
handheld camera once, “Another
Round” changes its style to suit
its characters’ level of intoxication.
Early on, the camerawork refl ects
a subtle spirit of dissatisfaction.
When they’re drinking moderately,
it smooths out and the cinematography
becomes more colorful.
The fi nal scene of “Another
Round” brings things full circle.
The references to Martin’s past in
jazz ballet pay off when he, Nikolaj,
and Peter join a group of students
celebrating graduation. Martin
starts dancing, and this becomes
the focus of the fi lm’s fi nal few minutes.
The men have had a drink or
two, but they’ve gotten over the
period when they were constantly
drunk. Still, Martin seems intoxicated
with something. The scene
plays like an updated number from
a classic Hollywood musical — it’s
set to the Danish pop group Scarlet
Pleasure’s “What a Life,” which the
students wind up singing — but
Martin’s dancing grows increasingly
uninhibited.
The fi lm ends with a freezeframe
evoking the many images
of people in motion that close classic
French cinema. But it does not
make any defi nitive statement
about Martin’s place is in life or his
future. He might be on the path to
a more liberated life or on the verge
of descending into heavier drinking.
But enjoying the immediate
moment is all that matters, even if
the use of freeze-frame preserves
it in stone. For once, Martin has
achieved his goal of living with
more intensity and freedom.
ANOTHER ROUND | Directed by
Thomas Vinterberg | In Danish with
English subtitles | Samuel Goldwyn
Pictures | Video on demand beginning
Dec. 18
➤ NIELSEN, from p.23
of reality programming, news, and
comedy, while LGBTQ men were
most visible in horror, science fi ction,
and comedy programs.
In terms of LGBTQ-themed stories
and content, Black women
were 14 times less represented
than Black men.
Much of the report’s numbers
pertaining to the queer community
were broad, often pointing only to
the LGBTQ community in general.
There were no statistics pertaining
specifi cally to transgender individuals,
but there were some numbers
on non-binary folks, who consisted
of 0.20 percent of those represented
on TV across platforms. Among
the top 300 programs, in contrast,
non-binary individuals were represented
in 2.3 percent across broadcast,
cable, and SVOD.
Looking at all programming,
non-binary individuals were seen
the most on SVOD programs, representing
Out gay actor Ben Platt stars as Payton Hobart in the Netfl ix show “The Politician.”
0.64 percent compared
to 0.11 percent on broadcast and
0.02 percent on cable.
Women’s visibility consistently
lagged behind men’s on TV in 2019,
despite representing more than half
of the population. Women made up
38 percent of screen time overall,
though they were best represented
on SVOD, coming in at 49 percent,
while just 33 percent of folks on
REUTERS/ ANDREW KELLY
broadcast TV were women.
The numbers for women were
scattered on the basis of race, with
Black women being overrepresented
on SVOD but signifi cantly underrepresented
on cable and slightly
underrepresented on broadcast.
Women who are Asian and Pacifi c
Islander were underrepresented on
all platforms.
Women over 50 faced big barriers,
as well: Those women made
up less than eight percent of the
share of screen time even though
women in this age demographic
make up 20 percent of TV viewers
and 20 percent of the population.
Latinx individuals were underrepresented
across the board. While
those individuals represent nearly
19 percent of the US population,
they made up just 5.5 percent of the
people on TV. Hispanic individuals
were most visible on SVOD, representing
10.1 percent, and that visibility
was particularly welcomed by
younger viewers. Among the top 15
programs on SVOD among Latinx
folks between the ages of 18 and
34, 40 percent had fair or strong
Latinx representation, while only 13
percent of the top programs among
Latinx individuals 35 or older had
fair or strong representation.
Visibility for Black individuals
on broadcast (24.7 percent) and
streaming (19 percent) platforms
was higher than their share of
the population, but those numbers
fell short on cable, where just
seven percent of those on screens
were Black. Wide differences were
seen when considering news and
weather programs, where Black
men made up 15 percent of the
screen time while Black women
represented just 0.12 percent.
The proportion of Afro-Latinx
folks on TV, meanwhile, was aligned
with the share of Afro-Latinx individuals
in the US population.
Asian folks were best represented
on broadcast, with Asian Pacifi c
Islanders leading the way among
Asian individuals in that category,
making up 11.7 percent of the
screen time. Visibility for Asian individuals
on cable and SVOD, however,
fell well short of that level.
Native American women were
sorely lacking on TV last year,
when they represented less than
a quarter of their share of the US
population.
Read Nielsen’s report at nielsen.
com/inclusionanalytics.
December 17 - December 30, 2 24 020 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
