73
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- Sprinting through hospital rooms, parties, sterile corridors, and grayish courtyards, Declaration Of War salutes its characters' capacity to step up and meet life's harshest unexpected demands.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceShot in the actual hospital where Donzelli and Elkaïm's actual son was treated for cancer, Declaration of War turns autobiography into thrilling expressionist art.
- 80Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearParenting relies on stamina as much as compassion, and Donzelli has, against all odds, crafted a genuinely moving ode to both the tenacity of filial love under extreme circumstances and the toll it extracts. Consider this a coup.
- 80The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenFor all its quirks and tangents, Declaration of War feels entirely alive. This story of two people who transform fear into action is inspiring.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAn adventurous song selection and stylish narrative techniques put a strangely romantic face on a harrowing story that's a parental nightmare.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliSan Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliWhat a treat to find a movie so bright-eyed and true - without a trace of bathos - in its depiction of such a harrowing subject.
- 65MovielineStephanie ZacharekMovielineStephanie ZacharekBetween the Truffautish voice-overs and Jacques Demy-style musical interludes, it's a wonder anyone in this sort-of drama, sort-of comedy ever gets any rest.
- 63Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSlant MagazineAndrew SchenkerThe surest sign that a filmmaker recognizes the insularity of his or her project is the presence of perfunctory attempts to hint at a wider political context.
- 63ObserverRex ReedObserverRex ReedAlthough they are no longer together and are living their own separate personal lives, their story, fictionalized but still autobiographical, bonded them for life. Apparently, they are best friends whose dedicated collaboration was the only way they could tell this harrowing story. It's a brave effort any way you slice it.
- 60New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThis isn't a therapy session on film; it's a visually stark, lively, organically engrossing movie with a very real handle on the mental processes, and interpersonal demands, that come with issues of life and death.