🎬 Movie Name: Relay (2024)

Relay (2024)

📌 Quick Info

Title: Relay
Release Year: 2024
Duration: 112 minutes
Genre: Thriller / Suspense
Main Cast: Riz Ahmed (as Ash) / Lily James (as Sarah Grant) / Sam Worthington.

📖 Storyline

Ash (Riz Ahmed) operates as a secret “fixer,” facilitating discreet payoffs for whistleblowers to protect their identities while ensuring corrupt corporations don’t face public fallout. He uses a telephone relay system (often used by the hearing-impaired) to maintain anonymity.

When Sarah Grant (Lily James), a former biotech employee, attempts to expose her company’s harmful secrets, she contacts Ash to help return sensitive documents while staying alive. But the deeper they go, the more rules are broken — and identities revealed.

Production Details

Director / Writer: David Mackenzie (writer credit for Justin Piasecki)
Producers: Gillian Berrie, Basil Iwanyk, David Mackenzie, Teddy Schwarzman
Cinematography: Giles Nuttgens
Editor: Matt Mayer
Music: Tony Doogan
Studio / Distributors: Black Bear Pictures, Thunder Road Films, Sigma Films / Bleecker Street
Budget / Box Office: Grossed around $4 million

Trivia & Fun Facts

  • The screenplay (originally titled The Broker) was featured on the 2019 Black List of highly liked but unproduced scripts.
  • Ash stays silent for much of the first act to maintain mystery and tension.
  • In a twist, the client Sarah is revealed to be part of the corporate team trying to recover the documents — the narrative turns upside down.

🎭 Ratings

  • IMDb Rating: ~ 7.1 / 10 (6,900+ votes)
  • Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

Why You Should Watch It

  • A cerebral rather than bombastic thriller — it builds tension through logic, secrecy, and small choices.
  • Riz Ahmed gives a subtle, compelling performance, making silence as expressive as dialogue.
  • The tech-twist element (relay calls, drop boxes, turnarounds) keeps you thinking.
  • It balances moral ambiguity: who is clean, who is dirty, and can you trust anyone?

Memorable Quotes

“Go ahead.” — (Used as a signature line in the relay interactions)

“I turned to drinking after 9/11.” — Part of Ash’s confessional in AA meetings.