Indie Watch

I Declare War

By Dan Krovich

September 19, 2013

Do you think this will hurt?

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The landscape for independent films has changed rapidly. On one hand, the opportunity to build a theatrical release has become increasingly difficult, but on the other hand, digital release has given indies a chance to play to a broad national audience at once. Each week, new indie releases will be profiled and because they might not be playing at a theater near you, one highly recommended film available now a click or two away via VOD (whether a new or not quite new release) will be presented for viewing without leaving your computer.

VOD Pick of the Week

I Declare War
In the neighborhood woods, a group of tweens play a quite involved game of Capture the Flag. Armed with guns fashioned of twigs and grenades of paint filled balloons, the group of (mostly) boys engages in their war games. The rules are simple. Each team has a home base that holds their flag. If you get shot, you are paralyzed for ten seconds, and if you get hit with a grenade you are dead and have to go home. The goal is to capture the enemy’s flag.

One team is led by PK, the undisputed undefeated champion. He is a student of military strategy from Napoleon to Patton and has never been defeated. He is the seasoned general and he runs a tight ship with his best friend and right-hand man Kwon. The other squad is in a bit of turmoil when one of the soldiers, Skinner, stages a coup against their general, Quinn. This throws a wrench in the plans of Jess, the only girl playing the game, who is only playing to impress Quinn, on whom she has a crush.

There are no adult characters in the film, and I Declare War works to bring you into this adolescent world, showing you the war through their eyes. In their world the simple twigs are assault rifles and machine guns and the shots they fire blast the bark off the trees. In the fog of war, the rules break down as Skinner brings his real world grudges into the game and the imaginary battle takes on real meaning to him.

There are certainly elements of Lord of Flies as the adolescent microcosm informs and reflects society as a whole. There are also echoes of Stand by Me in the way the film explores the psyche at that certain age, taking seriously the urgency and magnitude that events and emotions seem to a 12-year-old. On top of that there is the amusing aspect of watching these kids act out classic war movie tropes. Looking at the world today through the prism of I Declare War shows that perhaps we never fully leave behind the scars and mind-set of our youth.
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Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu




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New releases for September 20th

C.O.G.: Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez, director of previous VOD Pick of the Week, Easier with Practice, returns with his second directorial feature film effort, C.O.G. The first ever film adaptation of David Sedaris’ work stars Jonathan Groff as a cocky young man who travels to Oregon to work at an apple farm. The Ivy Leaguer is looking to find himself as he takes a job in the factory and becomes involved with a local Evangelical. As something of an intellectual elitist he looks down on these individuals with the stereotypes that he holds, but in this case he is the fish out of water who must adapt to their environment.

Enough Said: Divorced single mom and soon to be empty nester Eva (Julia Louis Dreyfus) works as a masseuse and wonders what will be the next phase of her life. She meets Albert (James Gandolfini), who like her is divorced with a child about to leave the home. He is sweet and funny and they have a lot in common so they begin a romance. Around the same time Eva befriends Marianne, a poet who likes to bitch about her ex-husband. When it turns out that the ex-husband is Albert, Eva is stuck trying to continue her relationship with him all the while listening to diatribes from Marianne complaining about and highlighting all of his faults.

Thanks for Sharing: Thanks for Sharing examines sexual addiction through three members of a sex addict support group at various stages of recovery. Tim Robbins plays Mike, the elder statesman and veteran. Josh Gad plays Neil, the new member with doubts about the 12-step plan. Mark Ruffalo is Adam who is at a stage of recovery where he thinks he might be able to start dating again. When he meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) he does not initially tell her about his addiction so as not to scare her away, but as their relationship develops they are obviously going to have to deal with the sexual elephant in the room. Thanks for Sharing is the directorial debut of Stuart Blumberg, writer of The Kids are All Right.


     


 
 

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