DUPLEX

In the same world as Lost and Found (2019), another micropowered teen finds his life in upheaval.

One morning Ryan Burke wakes up to find his father—who’s left the family—back home, walling the house off down the middle and converting it into a duplex so they can rent out half of it for income. Ryan falls hard for Bizzy Horvat, a witty new girl at school who is the daughter of Slovenian immigrants, before learning that she’s moving into the other side of his house. Mrs. Horvat is paranoid that people are watching them and are after Bizzy in particular; Ryan at first thinks it’s a general pretty-girl concern, until he notices the same people watching Bizzy over multiple days. One of these watchers notices Ryan engage in odd behavior as he’s defending Bizzy from a bee, and he recruits him for a micropowers support group run by a certain Dr. Withunga. Bizzy’s mother disapproves—she believes they are being stalked by Slovenian witch hunters, or lovece, who kill micropotents (like herself, Bizzy, and Ryan). It will take creativity and fast thinking to survive the gun-toting lovece. Ryan is brainy and sarcastic, and his growing maturity makes for a satisfying arc. Careless language around Roma and disabled people and references to the friend zone appear without context, but (villains aside) the characters have nuanced complexity. Main characters default to White.

A fun romp that’s part sweet love story and part action movie.