The story centers on the Tri-State telecommunications relay service that enables deaf or hard-of-hearing callers to communicate via a typing device and an operator. A professional fixer (Riz Ahmed) repurposes the relay to preserve anonymity while arranging safe returns for whistleblowers who stole corporate secrets and now want their lives back. A scientist, Sarah Grant (Lily James), steals a damaging agrobusiness report about GMO health effects and hires the fixer to return it without reprisal. The fixer monitors her and discovers corporate thugs surveilling her from a van led by Sam Worthington. The relay conceit creates persistent tension by having every call voiced by a different operator.
The relay referred to in the title of David Mackenzie's absurdly gripping new thriller, which premiered yesterday at the Toronto International Film Festival, is the Tri-State telecommunications relay service, a platform that enables those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to make phone calls via a texting device and an operator. They type their messages on one end, and an operator reads it to the person on the other end.
These are people who have made off with their former companies' secrets but now want their lives back. To do so, they must contact their company, return what they've taken, and get some sort of guarantee that they will not be hunted down by any paid goons. Ash and the people he works for provide that guarantee in exchange for generous payments from both sides. He's both foot-soldier and guardian angel, quiet and ruthless.
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