Dystopian love in ice-cool Singapore

DIRECTOR Drake Doremus knows a lot about star-crossed love. His 2011 breakthrough Like Crazy snagged the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for its detailed, heartbreaking depiction of love against the odds.

His new film Equals reaffirms his ability to elicit true-to-life performances from talented young actors. When Kristen Stewart (Twilight) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Apocalypse) finally open up to each other, there's nothing false about their tremulous gaze, quivering lips and tentative touch.

This meticulous portrayal of their characters' romantic awakening is made more striking against the cold, clinical backdrop of the futuristic world filmed in Singapore and Tokyo. Here, intense human emotions have been outlawed to prevent another cataclysmic outbreak of violence that once engulfed the human race and brought it close to extinction.