PLOT: Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a fixer who works as an intermediary between whistleblowers and their former employers. Rather than help them expose wrongdoing, he brokers deals to end the scorched-earth tactics often employed by murderous corporations seeking to avert scandal. Operating in the shadows, his world begins to unravel when he takes a personal interest in one of his clients (Lily James).
REVIEW: David Mackenzie’s Relay has an intriguing hook. We’ve seen plenty of thrillers centered on people trying to do the right thing and expose wrongdoing, but this movie takes a different approach. What if a whistleblower discovers that the machine they’re up against is too powerful and simply wants to return to their old life? Such is the plight of Lily James’s Sarah, a former employee of a biotech company who uncovered potentially lethal side effects in their genetically modified wheat. Initially intent on going public, she was unprepared for the violent lengths the company—seemingly operating above the law—would go to in order to discredit her and destroy her life. But how does one broker a deal with such a company?
That’s where Riz Ahmed’s Ash comes in. He is a fixer who uses an ingenious system to maintain his anonymity, relying on relay services—a telecommunications company for the hearing impaired, whose privacy is guaranteed by law—to communicate with clients and broker deals. The result is a cracking thriller that features Ahmed in his strongest turn since Sound of Metal.
Thematically, the movie shares much with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, centering on a man completely cut off from the world around him, who never communicates directly with his clients and leads a spartan life. Ahmed has almost no dialogue in the first half of the film, with our only glimpse into his personal world being the weekly AA meetings he attends.
Mackenzie, who hasn’t directed anything since Outlaw King, makes a solid return, keeping the pace taut throughout. The character development is excellent—not only is Ahmed compelling as the semi-heroic protagonist, but Lily James shines as the formerly confident executive reduced to a shattered shell by the terror tactics of her former employer. The movie also spends significant time with Ash’s rivals, Sam Worthington’s Dawson and Willa Fitzgerald’s Rosetti, who work for Sarah’s former employer and systematically dismantle her life. Rather than painting them as cartoonish villains, they are portrayed as professionals like Ash, acting as his conscience-free mirror image.
Of course, not all is as it seems in Relay. Mackenzie ramps up the action in the first half-hour with some crafty reversals, while Ahmed also gets to demonstrate real chops as an action hero. He even includes a bit of sign language in a nice nod to his breakout role in Sound of Metal, which, for my money, ranks among the best films of the decade thus far.
It’s a shame Relay is getting such a low-key release. The limited theatrical run feels more like glorified advertising for its digital release. Produced by Black Bear, a company specializing in fare (such as the MIA Rivals of Amziah King) that would have been considered commercial in the nineties but are niche today, this is the kind of movie I hope they continue making. I had a better time watching Relay in theaters than most films this summer. If you’re looking for a cracking, smarter-than-average thriller that – in the best way – feels like it could have been made in the nineties, check it out.
