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Equals
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (11th September 2016). |
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The Film
 In the aftermath of a world nuclear war that destroyed 99.6% of the world's usable land, the totalitarian unit known as The Collective encourages cooperation through the complete "gene silencing" of human emotions and other "flaws" between conception and birth. Women are summoned for conception duty and there is no sanctioned "coupling activity." An occasional malfunctioning of gene silencing is known as S.O.S. or "Switched On Syndrome" in which the genes reawaken, leading to "unpredictable sensory experiences and behavioral defects." Those suffering from the disease can treat it in early stages of intermittent feeling and volatility with inhibitors, but those in stage four ("acute behavioral chaos") are no longer considered productive members of The Collective and sent to the DEN ("Defective Emotional Neuropathy Facility") for containment, emotional suppression treatment, and given painless death scenarios (including suicide). Anyone exhibiting odd behavior should be reported to the Health and Saftey Officers as a danger to The Collective. After witnessing the suicide of a co-worker, space exploration journal Atmos speculative non-fiction illustrator Silas (About a Boy's Nicholas Hoult) realizes that he is not the only one "affected", noting with curiosity the reactions of his co-worker Nia (The Messengers' Kristen Stewart). Troubled by nightmares (and not having even experienced dreams before), Silas dutifully goes for a medical checkup and is diagnosed as being in the first state of S.O.S. Although both his doctor and his boss Leonard (The Girl in Blue's David Selby) both try to assure him of The Collective's promise that a cure is just around the corner, Silas is nevertheless ostracized by his co-workers. Despite Nia spearheading his marginalization, Silas is drawn to her. She tries to discourage his interest and threatens to report him, but he correctly diagnoses that she has also "switched on" and has been attempting to treat herself without drugs out of fear of the DEN and those who have disappeared. They meet in secret in the Atmos office's restroom stalls just to be close until Leonard starts to get suspicious. Out of concern for Nia, Silas takes a new job that requires less interaction with other people and finds a secret support group for S.O.S. sufferers through confidante Jonas (L.A. Confidential's Guy Pearce) that includes among its small numbers Bess (Animal Kingdom's Jacki Weaver), a DEN doctor who is a "hider" like Nia but who remains in her line of work to be among people who feel deeply. Unable to maintain her self-control and self-discipline in Silas' absence, Nia goes to him at his apartment and they begin a clandestine sexual relationship that grows into what they come to recognize as love. When a cure for S.O.S. is announced that can switch off genes permanently for S.O.S. sufferers at any stage, Nia and Silas no longer want to "rejoin the ranks of the equals." Convinced that being switched on is their natural state and unable to bear the thought of remembering what love is like but unable to feel it, Nia and Silas seek the help of the group to find a way to escape to the nearby peninsula said to be inhabited by Defectives who have regressed to a primitive state. As if the world needed another futuristic dystopian romance, Equals is THX-1138 with a prettier cast, Equilibrium without action, 1984 without Big Brother and with PG-13 sex, and not so much mumblecore as just mumbled. Writer Nathan Parker – of the more interesting Moon has nothing novel to contribute here – and it also seems like more of the same for director Drake Doremus (Like Crazy) - reteaming with cinematographer John Guleserian (The Overnight) and editor Jonathan Alberts (45 Years) - exploring romantic longing visually and depending on the chemistry of the leads to heat up his chilly visuals. While the mildly more lively Hoult is better at conveying the character's veiled emotions and his increasing difficulty hiding them, it is shocking that no one in the film was suspicious of perpetually glum-looking KStew (their artistic and literary lines of employment speculating and reflecting on the wonders of space exploration would seem to be likely to stir up emotions even if the reports seem intended to be straightforward in their informative nature). Pearce is sadly wasted, but the few appearances by Weaver (so over-the-top in Haunt) provides something of the heart the film so desperately needs in her few scenes. The film seems headed for a surprising twist on the denouement of Romeo and Juliet, and it does go half-way before trying to have it both ways with an escapist ending and some open-ended optimism. The film might work for futuristic dystopian film fans looking for a date movie, but interest is otherwise limited. 
Video
The 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen presentation conveys the film's highly stylized look well enough considering the extremely cool and desaturated color grading throughout, with interjections of pinkish and orange light streaking the image as the film progresses, giving a lifelike fleshtone to the characters that becomes more realistic as the film goes on in terms og the grading of the protagonist's skintones. The film makes heavy use of lens flares, but the image remains sharp when the image is in focus and scenes are not being shot through the windows of apartments and offices. 
Audio
For a film set mostly at a place called Atmos, Equals has not availed itself of the possibilities of Dolby Atmos; however, the intimate nature of the film does not really exploit the possibilities of such extended surround mixing. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track gets the job done with murmured dialogue, loudspeaker announcements, digital advertisements, and sparse music. Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitle are provided. 
Extras
Extras start off with an audio commentary with director Drake Doremus, cinematographer John Guleserian, and editor Jonathan Alberts which is less interesting in discussing the film's thematic elements and the performances than in discussing the technical aspects. The film was shot almost primarily with LED lights, allowing the cinematographer to change the color of lights in all of part of the frame without changing color gels. The sole use of a non-LED light was to produce a particularly strong flare to cast an orange tone on Hoult on one side of the frame while Selby remained in the cooler blue lighting of the rest of the set. The participants also discuss some of the reshoots, including a scene that precedes the first relationship montage sequence rewritten to give a sense of Silas more actively pursuing the relationship than the two just falling into it.  The featurette "Switched On" (8:15) finds the director discussing the film in terms of the broadstrokes of the romantic relationship, with producer Michael Pruss recalling the director approaching him with an idea about "the future of love" and connecting him with Parker because of his script for Moon. "The Collective" (13:35) features talking heads from Hoult and Stewart discussing the very loose and improvisational rehearsal process of the film and how the director tapped into their life experiences. "Utopia" (30:11) finds writer Parker, producer Ann Ruark (Babel), Doremus, and production designers Katie Byron (Breathe In) and Tino Schaedler (The Immortals), and the actors discuss visualizing the future and scouting extraordinary buildings in Japan (art galleries, universities, museums, temples), shooting on location, and matching interior set design.
Overall
As if the world needed another futuristic dystopian romance... 
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