This is a capsule review. A full review will be posted closer to release.

With its monochrome sci fi setting and central metaphor that’s unwieldy enough to choke a python, you’d expect Equals to have either high energy action, or a knotty plot as the reason to visit this frighteningly familiar dystopia (here: Equilibrium as designed by Ikea and Apple). But the latest film from Like Crazy director Drake Doremus offers no such physical or mental gymnastics, and instead attempts to wow you with something much simpler.

It’s a tale as old as time (“1984,” if you need a specific time): boy meets girl, they fall in love, and now life in their controlled society -one based on total emotional repression- has just become a lot more complicated. Given the well-worn territory, it’s smart that Nathan Parker’s script doesn’t worry too much about the...