There's a subgenre of science fiction films that deal distinctly with the future of emotions. The most recent, and one of the most remarkable, of these films is Spike Jonze's Her, but this has been a subject of interest back into the 1970s, and includes classics like Logan's Run. It's a severely romantic idea: big emotions, shared by two people or even more, becoming acts of revolution in and of themselves. It's the bedrock of Drake Doremus' new science fiction, Equals, which stars Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart as two members of a totalitarian state where emotions have been eradicated. You can take a look at the first trailer for the film, from the director of Like Crazy, right below:
The aesthetic seems to be taking a pretty obvious tactic of using color and design uniformity to create an image of a world that stresses uniformity: all the white costumes, and perfectly composed shots that would be as welcome in a high-def TV reel as in any film. Visually, this isn't particularly interesting, but the film is more remarkable for its cast, which is toplined by Stewart, whose appearance in celebrity gossip has often deterred from her considerable talent as a performer, and Hoult, who will next be seen as Beast, once again, in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Beyond that, the film has a tremendous supporting cast, led by the great Guy Pearce, who did some excellent work last year in Results, as did Bel Powley, who broke out in The Diary of a Teenage Girl, who also co-stars in Equals. Then there's Toby Huss, who has upended his reputation as "that guy from Pete & Pete" with his superbly effective work on AMC's underrated computing series Halt and Catch Fire. Depending on how the director utilizes these performers, Equals might have a fascinating balance between the ideal, tightly structured look of the world and the messy personalities of those who can't stand it. (Extra points for the use of that icy remix of Chromatics' "Kill for Love" in the trailer.)
You can check out Adam's review of Equals right here, and the poster for the film below:
