Equals

This predictable love-will-prevail romance benefits from attractive, expressive leads. Both Hoult (Warm Bodies) and Stewart (Twilight Saga) are YA-adaptation veterans who are skilled at evoking the nuanced and overwhelming feeling of falling in love; they couldn't be better suited to playing outlier humans who feel despite that being considered a sickness in their slick, emotion-free society. Stewart is skilled at expertly conveying much in even the smallest of gestures, whether it’s her signature hair touch or the slightest squint of the eyes. She and Hoult make it look completely believable that all it takes in an utterly repressed world is a few charged, longing looks and breathless caresses in a bathroom stall for two people to fall recklessly in love with each other.

As in Like Crazy, director Drake Doremus continues to ponder the mysteries of love -- and, in this case, whether it’s indeed a sickness so overwhelming that it's worth risking your life to protect. Propelled by the appealing leads and memorable cinematography (the exterior shots are particularly fascinating, and the interior shots favor close-ups of Hoult and Stewart as they reach and look and touch) Equals -- which is reminiscent of futuristic films like Gattaca, as well as young-adult stories like The Giver and Delirium -- is a bit too quiet to merit a real fandom but still sweet enough to be enjoyed by those who favor indie romances.