Marina Antunes [Celluloid 05.09.13] action comedy drama



Though Jason Lapeyre's I Declare War has been described as "equal parts Lord of the Flies and Roald Dahl" by TIFF programmers, I was curious to see what would make a movie about kids playing war so darn funny and now that there's a trailer, I'm even more intrigued because there doesn't seem to be anything to laugh about. If anything, I'm a little horrified by the fact that the guns the kids are playing with look and sound real.

The movie pits two factions of neighbourhood kids who have been playing war in the near by woods all summer but on this particular day, the fighting gets ugly when jealousy and betrayal enters the mix.


Seems that Lapeyre isn't just digging into the black cauldron of comedy for a few laughs but also making some interesting observations on war, kids playing at being adults without understanding the full consequences of their actions as well as more immediate issues like bullying. This could certainly make for an interesting watch.

I Declare War opens in Toronto on May 10 and Vancouver on May 17.

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redsquid (9 years ago) Reply

'If anything, I'm a little horrified by the fact that the guns the kids are playing with look and sound real.'

Look really close around the .31 mark and you see the kid holding a fake homemade gun and then it flashes to a real gun. The weapons look real because that's how the kids imagine them. It's like the South Park Halloween episode where Kenny has the really cool robot costume but at the end it's revealed to be kludged together from cardboard boxes and he just imagined that it was super cool looking. This one looks good.

Marina (9 years ago) Reply

Ah! Good catch!

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