Denmark's latest Oscar submission, Another Round, is now available to watch on VOD. The feature stars a cadre of stupendous Danish thespians, led by Mads Mikkelsen, one of the country's biggest names internationally. From his beginnings as a supporting player in indie flicks to mainstream gigs as portentous villains, the actor made fans of many a cinephile and charmed even more unsuspecting moviegoers. To celebrate the release of his latest project, I decided to take a look at the career and life of Mikkelsen, enumerating 10 reasons why I love the actor…
MURDEROUS CHEMISTRY
Bryan Fuller's Hannibal is one of my most beloved TV series of the past decade, its epicurean look at Thomas Harris' characters so seductive as to become unnerving. At the center of it all, there's the chemistry between Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy's Will Graham, a pair whose mutual obsession often twists the horror show into becoming a sordid sort of murderous romance.
HE GIVES GOOD VILLAIN
The actor's bemusing intensity makes him an ideal choice for many a villainous part from the aforementioned Hannibal to his upcoming turn as Grindelwald. Best of all, he knows how to underplay malevolence, even when giving life to James Bond's foe in Casino Royale or Doctor Strange's enemy, using his stillness to draw the eye of the viewer, to project threat and confuse the audience's allegiance.
REFN'S MUSE
Maybe because he's so good at suggesting bloodshed without exploding in paroxysms of aggression, Mads Mikkelsen started his career as Nicolas Winding Refn's stalwart muse. The two made four features together between 1996 and 2009, often hyperviolent derangements anchored by the actor's stony presence. Pusher, their first collaboration, was the movie that made both of them famous in Denmark and its 2004 sequel earned Mikkelsen his first Bodil Award.
BIER'S BEST LEADING MAN
Like Refn, Susanne Bier is a Danish filmmaker I admire more than love. However, whenever Mads Mikkelsen is involved, the quality of the project increases tenfold, the actor's soulful subtlety a great vehicle through which Bier's melodramas find emotional modulation. His performance in the Oscar-nominated After the Wedding is especially impressive. In it, he turns a potentially outlandish premise into a painful storm of compromises, sacrifices, and strange familial bonds.
FESTIVAL DARLING
If you're a regular festival goer, you might have found yourself watching some obscure production just because it starred Mads Mikkelsen. Many of his films have played in the festival circuit and present a variety of cinematic approaches, from the mercilessness of Refn's fare to the surreal oddities of such flicks as Men and Chicken. Despite appearing in Hollywood blockbuster franchises, Mikkelsen never left the arthouse scene, creating a wonderfully varied filmography.
CANNES CHAMPION
Speaking of Mikkelsen's status as a festival darling, he's also won Cannes. In 2012, when Vinterberg's The Hunt played at the Croisette, the Danish performer conquered the Best Actor prize for his work as a teacher erroneously accused of molesting a child. The script and structure often simplify the behavioral particularities of the plot, flattening its more curious possibilities. Still, rising above all that, Mikkelsen delivers an astounding performance, far greater than the narrative that contains it.
THIS EXPRESSION
After his victory, Mads Mikkelsen was part of the Cannes main competition jury in 2016. While that year featured one of the best selections in recent memory, the jury's decisions were rather strange. In retrospect, it's insane that Toni Erdmann, Aquarius, and Elle won nothing while Xavier Dolan's widely panned It's Only the End of the World got the Grand Prix, a second-place honor. During the Canadian filmmaker's endless acceptance speech, the image cut to this close-up of Mikkelsen looking like he was regretting his jury decisions. It probably meant nothing of the sort, but it was a wonderful bit of schadenfreude that added humor to the Cannes closing ceremony.
THE FACE
When not being turned into a meme by Film Twitter, the Danish actor's face is one of the greatest marvels of 21st-century European cinema. With his sharp cheekbones and feline stare, Mads Mikkelsen looks both sensuous and menacing, a Greek statue whose eyes shine like the embers of hell. It's a peculiar alchemy of beauty and harshness, a soft appeal that's undercut by sharp severity. One of those faces perfect for the camera, it's able to hold our curiosity in prolonged close-ups, to illustrate emotion without much effort and be mysterious at the same time.
THE BODY
As much as I love Mikkelsen's chiseled features, his smart body language is an even greater part of his work as a dramatic actor. Before he pursued this craft, Mikkelsen was a dancer and gymnast, activities that gave him a set of skills that he continues to use to deepen his screen characterizations. Notice how he adds nervous energy to Le Chiffre's portentous stillness, the precision of comedy bleeding into tragedy as Pusher's oft-naked skinhead, the brittle exhaustion suggested by his dragging feet in The Salvation, the calculated camaraderie of his priestly posture in At Eternity's Gate.
"WHAT A LIFE!"
We come full circle, returning to the reason for this write-up, Vinterberg's Another Round. Playing one of four high school teachers testing if constant intoxication will improve their lives, Mikkelsen delivers the performance of a lifetime. Like a boozy night followed by a cold morning, the actor takes us through a journey. From drunken buzz to a euphoria that fades into painful hangover, writhing on the floor and then looking for another drink, for dance, for another chance at life. The ending, in particular, is one for the ages, putting to great use Mikkelsen's dancing abilities. Give him all the awards.
If you're a fan of Mikkelsen, what's your favorite performance of his?