Riz Ahmed in Relay.
Photo: The Searchers
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. In Relay, however, the service is used to maintain anonymity by a man (Riz Ahmed) whose name might be Tom, or Ash, or something else, a cool, methodical professional who helps protect whistleblowers that have had a change of heart. These are people who have made off with…
