Riz Ahmed is an interesting actor, one that can arrest us with his eloquent silence, and this is a talent put to excellent use in RELAY, a film in which he doesn’t speak for the first part of his performance. If the story of a broker of shady deals doesn’t spark to life as quickly as it should, Ahmed, troubled, soulful eyes filling the screen as his character, who will go by many names by the time the credits roll, moves with measured assurance staying aloof from the clients he services and leaving everyone with what they asked for, in more ways than one.
His go-to assignments involve would-be whistleblowers who have lost their nerve, usually due to the bullying applied by the corporations whose nefarious deeds they have uncovered. James, as Ahmed goes by at one point, negotiates for a cessation of threats from the offending corporation in exchange for whatever damning evidence the ci-mentioned whistleblower is only too happy to turn return. James keeps a copy for himself, insurance that the threats will cease, and cleverly makes a tidy profit from both sides.
His latest client is Sarah (Lily James), a scientist run afoul of her company after discovering, and reporting to her managers, that the genetically modified wheat they are developing will result in disease and death for a significant percentage of its consumers. Traumatized by the escalating retaliation, her only interest now is getting her old life back. James takes the case after careful research, and despite his usual personal disinterest in any of his clients, there is something about Sarah that gets to him. Perhaps it’s the quaver in her voice. Perhaps it’s the overwhelming vulnerability. Perhaps it’s her devotion to grammar. Perhaps it’s that James himself is coming to crossroads for reasons that will reveal themselves slowly, with Ahmed conveying several layers of conflicting emotions and impulses while slowly realizing that his disinterest with the world’s welfare may be cracking. No matter how much he wants it to remain whole.
RELAY refers to the method James uses for professional communications. A service usually used by the deaf or mute community that involves a third person reading copy from a dedicated device, and repeating the message from the typer, James, to the client. The third person types what the client says. Client and contractor don’t hear one another, though at one point that third party does type that Sarah is crying. It’s useful for being untraceable due to government regulations, and it keeps James protected from anything resembling human interaction.
Not that those precautions stop Sarah’s company from trying to track her down when she goes into hiding, or from identifying the maddeningly elusive, and even more maddeningly clever, person negotiating on her behalf. Leading that team is an equally morally detached Dawson (Sam Worthington), whose laid-back demeanor does nothing to diminish the switchblade menace he embodies. The film becomes a cat-and-mouse game, with some tantalizing twists. If the pacing becomes languid from time to time, it does nothing to lessen the nuanced performances, particularly from Ahmed, nor the gut punches that come out of nowhere.
RELAY is a character-driven thriller that trades in emotional cliffhangers rather than mere action set pieces. It draws in the viewer by using that best of all cinematic devices: showing with carefully curated moments, not telling. The result is an engrossing and beautifully crafted film that respects its audience’s intelligence and its sensibilities about truth, lies, and redemption.
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