Cast: Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer.Janina Gavankar.Lucian-River Chauhan.Aditya Geddada.
“Encounter” is an Amazon streaming movie that was intended to be a road movie.It’s a straightforward, but well-crafted psychological drama with elements of science fiction and thrills.
It begins with an unsettling and disturbing scene in which a meteorite hits Earth, causing an alarming chain reaction that causes panic within the insect kingdom.They become carnivorous and cannibalize the ecosystem.
A human is also infected by a mosquito-carrying microbe.
The story begins.
Just like the coronavirus pandemic of recent years, the ex-Marine Malik Khan, played by Riz Ahmed, disinfects himself.Instead of using a hand sanitizer, he uses an insecticide spray to kill the mosquitos that have invaded his bedroom’s wallpaper.
This is likely to be his attempt to defend himself against the latest pandemic.
Director: Michael Pearce
IANS Rating: **1/2
In his endeavour to keep himself and his family safe, after his wife (Janina Gavankar) gets infected, he packs his two sons Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), in his car.They leave for a long drive making the kids believe that they are going on a road trip which is a secret mission.
For the unsuspecting kids, what initially starts as an exciting, quality time to spend with their long-absent father, over some time realise that something is amiss and the adventure they were looking forward to is a nightmare.
Like the kids, the audience too is thrown off balance especially, when the caring parole officer Hattie (Octavia Spencer) calls to speak to Malik.That’s when we learn that Malik was a convicted criminal, and we start wondering where the narrative is leading.
Mounted with an incredibly small cast the film is spell-binding because of Benjamin Kracun’s dynamic cinematography and the appealing performances by Riz Ahmed, Lucian-River Chauhan, and Aditya Geddada.Their on-screen father-son chemistry is palpable.
All the supporting characters, along with Octavia Spencer in a small role, have their moments of on-screen glory.
Overall, the script by director Pearce and his co-writer Joe Barton is shrewdly taut and deceptive.
It speaks to the audiences so directly that anyone utilising it almost has to go out of their way to make it not work on at least some primal level.
Moreover, the kids are so endearing that you invest in them immediately, and once your trust in Malik breaks, there is no looking back for the safety of the children.
Everything starts seeming dubious in gripping even wickedly, amusing ways.
troy/kr
#IANS #Review #cleverly #written #psychodrama #Amazon #Coronavirus
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