TELLURIDE – A good twist can be the hallmark of a compelling narrative. For instance, you may think the movie you’re watching or the novel you are reading is set in one genre or about a particular subject matter until, well, it’s not. Nothing is more frustrating than when said twist turns out to be less compelling than the story’s original conceit. Despite star Riz Ahmed’s best efforts, that’s the case with Michael Pearce’s “Encounter,” which debuted Friday at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival.
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An original screenplay from Pearce, best known for 2017’s well-received thriller “Beast,” and “Girl/Haji” creator Joe Barton, “Encounter” begins with an elaborate opening sequence that follows an asteroid crashing into the Earth’s atmosphere. There is something microscopic in our space traveler, however, that is quickly captured by a hungry bug. Another insect eats said bug eventually transferring it to a, uh oh, mosquito. Then, accompanied by an increasingly ominous score by Jed Kurzel, that pesky fellow bites a random human being. The audience watches as the alien microbe (somehow cuter than you’d expect) slowly begin to infect its subject’s bloodstream. It dives deep into the body and is marked by a distinct blue tint. A genuinely tense and ominous sequence to kick off the proceedings.
After the title card appears, we’re introduced to Malik (Ahmed), who awakes in a grungy motel room and immediately sprays himself with bug spray. The television shows a news report of violent clashes with police at a protest over an unknown virus. Flies and mosquitos, again with a blue tint, appear outside his eye line. And he has a large map of what appears to note which states are infected. He’s on a new mission, assisting a secret government agency trying to find a cure for the infection. Or so we’re told.
Malik’s two sons, Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), live with their mother Piya (Janina Gavankar), and her new husband on lush farmland somewhere in California. At one point, a fly with a blue tint bites Piya and, suddenly, she’s not feeling well. Before you know it, Malik arrives in the dark of night to rescue his two sons from a seemingly out-of-control viral alien threat. They hit the road with the boys unclear of what is truly going on but (mostly) thrilled to see their dad. The audience learns something is up when Malik makes a call to Hattie (Octavia Spencer), his – wait for it – parole officer.
The aforementioned “twist” slowly begins to unravel and the obvious road trip movie becomes much more predictable and uninspired. Especially when you throw in a hardly invested FBI Agent (Rory Cochrane), a pair of well-armed stereotypical “don’t tread on me” machine gun-toting brothers, and enough pretty Michael Bay-inspired overhead shots to fill a director’s pitch for the next open studio franchise gig. We can only assume Pearce is hoping the change of direction will be welcomed by audiences. Instead, he’s peppered the film with an abundant number of visual cues outside of Malik’s perspective that actually cheats the audience. And certainly hard to swallow considering the visual style he commits to for the rest of the film.
The film’s saving graces is not only Ahmed, who, as you’d expect, elevates the material every chance he gets, but his on-screen connection with Chauhan. Somehow, the relatively unknown Canadian actor gives one of the best performances from a young actor in recent memory. A natural and grounded turn that miraculously isn’t lost amongst Pearce’s need to forcefully punctuate every possible beat of action in the film’s tedious second half. [C]
“Encounter” has not been given a public release date by Amazon Studios at this time.
Follow along with our full coverage from the 2021 Telluride Film Festival here.