Equals
Published October 8, 2016
Film info
- Title Equals
- Director Drake Doremus
- Year 2015
- Run time 1hr 41m
- Genres Drama, Romance, Science-Fiction
- Tagline Find your equal
Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult play Nia and Silas, two people who work together in a futuristic society known as 'The Collective.' A seemingly utopian world, 'The Collective' has ended crime and violence by genetically eliminating all human emotions. Despite this, Nia and Silas can’t help noticing a growing attraction between them, leading them to a forbidden relationship—at first tentative, but then exploding into a passionate romance. As suspicion begins to mount among their superiors, the couple will be forced to choose between going back to the safety of the lives they have always known, or risk it all to try and pull off a daring escape.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:54 | He appears to be living in Jony Ive’s mind. |
| 5:47 | The noises in this world are all very ice cream van, high pitched and choir-like. |
| 7:54 | Dammit, I always end up liking the dystopian world more than the real one! |
| 9:47 | Except for the constant Windows error message noise, that would do my head in. |
| 16:54 | This must have been a nightmare to film, keeping all the clothes clean. |
| 19:04 | “Dampening the onset of emotion.” |
| 24:07 | She has to properly crane her neck to look at him. |
| 29:09 | I would so get my food all down my nice white top. |
| 34:40 | “Every day I thought I knew something, learned something, I didn’t.” |
| 36:21 | Do they know about kissing or is that some kind of innate human action? |
| 41:25 | “Have you thought about killing yourself?” So deadpan. |
| 49:11 | A world with no emotions and amazing showers? Sign me up! |
| 1:01:26 | I was worried he didn’t have curtains, but they solved it by hiding behind the cupboard. |
| 1:01:56 | “I was tall until I wasn’t.” |
| 1:13:41 | Oop, didn’t see that coming. |
| 1:22:27 | Ew mandatory testing. |
| 1:25:42 | It’s like Romeo and Juliet. |
Conclusions
I really wasn’t expecting a huge amount from this film, it seems to have flown very much below the radar. But the trailer was fascinating and I really like both Stewart and Hoult, so was keen to see how it all unfolded.
I thought it was brilliant! Moody and arty, great idea, tense almost all the way through and with some great thoughtful moments. It was wonderfully quiet, although the dialogue could get a little too mumbly so I couldn’t hear, but it didn’t really seem to matter. It was nice to watch a quiet film rather than the loud and blaring blockbusters.
My only real complaint was that it really felt like a play on Romeo and Juliet, albeit with a marginally happier ending. R&J is a great story but to update it, I would have hoped for slightly more unique twists and turns. But that’s a small price to play for a fascinating film.
Rating: 4/5.
Rating: 1 / 5