Starring Riz Ahmed and Lily James, Relay is a contained, but expansive, thriller set in New York City. Sarah (Lily James) first finds Ash (Riz Ahmed) as she seeks a middleman between corporations and the people who have discovered terrible secrets about them. Using a phone relay system which keeps his identity secret, Ash helps people like Sarah. As he negotiates with Sarah’s former employer to keep her safe from the team of intimidators after her, the situation becomes more and more complicated and Ash must decide for himself how much he is willing to risk for Sarah and if his work is truly keeping people safer.
Director David Mackenzie has said that this film takes references from various classics, the most obvious being films like Rear Window, Rope, and noir films. Relay does a great job at pacing the story. It never lets go of the tension and continually includes close calls that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. In between these tense moments, we see the start of a connection between Ash and Sarah. Despite never seeing each other, the two seem to form a relationship over this mutual goal of safety and happiness. However, the companies lead thug (Sam Worthington) keeps getting in the way and, when mistakes are made, the whole plan in throw into jeopardy. The chaos of this creates a tense finale that may be divisive but worked for me, as the film chooses to focus on its themes of justice and safety for all as opposed to justice for one.
Relay is playing at TIFF ’24. For more information, click here.
