There is one actor who could have pulled off what is required of the lead performer in Encounter and that is Riz Ahmed. The Sound of Metal star portrays Malik Khan, a decorated Marine who appears out of nowhere and takes his two young sons on the road for what Malik believes is a rescue mission. From what, you ask? That meteor shower that’s made headlines for days now isn’t exactly simple space rocks falling through our atmosphere… that’s what.
The thing is, between the way that filmmaker Michael Pearce has shot and orchestrated his drama, one starts to wonder whether this perceived threat is in Khan’s head. The script by Pearce and Joe Barton impeccably paints a picture that the helmer captures impeccably of a conflicted and terrorized man who is either more trained to foresee threats due to his military background or he suffers from major PTSD and a slew of other mental ailments. As the tension mounts, things become less clear and thus, more anxiety-producing for the audience—in the best of ways.
Then, there’s Octavia Spencer’s Hattie—who has a special interest in ensuring that Khan makes it out of this alive and in one piece. She’s his parole officer and sees the incredible good that he is capable of achieving. Yes, he’s out of prison and that adds a layer for those who are hunting him for kidnapping to justify that massive manhunt. The fact that he’s a former decorated Marine makes him even more dangerous—in the authorities’ eyes. Not so, believes Hattie, and she’s right there along the way to ensure things never get too out of control.
Khan’s relationship with his sons is powerfully developed over the course of the film. It’s not that way at first. The younger son, Bobby (Aditya Geddada), sure, he thinks he’s a superhero… right up there with Spider-Man. His slightly older boy, Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan), is a little slower to come around to the sudden attention of his father after a period of time where he was absent—between prison and the military.
As the road trip progresses, their bond intensifies. The boys become an equal part of the “team” that is trying to do what they can to “save the day.” Their lives will never be the same again after this experience, and each young actor portrays it as such in different manners. The younger one takes a little longer to come around to adding up all that’s going on and realizing that something might be not quite right—or the opposite, it’s much worse and father’s making it less so as to not scare them.
Chauhan and Geddada are superb and given that this is an indie movie, there couldn’t have been a whole lot of time for rehearsal, i.e., exactly what you need to enhance a connection between strangers who must pretend to be father and children. Pearce did himself quite a storytelling favor while crafting these two young characters. Their innocence reflects the audience’s entry into the narrative.
Ahmed makes this movie, then again, when does his participation in a project not equal the best part of it? He turns in a powerful performance as a man who feels he is at the end of his rope, who simultaneously must do whatever he feels he can to save his two boys. The danger they are in, at least in his head, is immense and lethal. Given his military past, he feels he is his children’s best chance of survival, not their mother—Piya (Janina Gavankar).
The actor has a quiet command of his characters and that was certainly the case with Sound of Metal and although leagues different, Ahmed does that again here with Encounter. There’s much going on in his characters’ heads and we see it through his facial expressions, how he carries himself to where he chooses to focus his eye line. He’s a full-bodied actor and that comes through massively with parts like the one he has in Pearce’s film. He has become an actor whose name alone gets us to watch.
Spencer is terrific. Again, when is she not? The Oscar winner plays a key part in this landscape in that she may be Khan’s only ally amid the throngs of law officers who are pursuing him. This could have been a mail-in performance with someone like Spencer’s talent. It’s not the most fully filled-out character she’s ever played and that almost makes what she achieves all the more significant. She is the voice of reason, as Spencer plays her, amongst a sea of seemingly blood-thirsty officers. The actress once again brings the humanity to a film, something she does that is exquisite.
What the threat is in Encounter exactly is crystal clear in Khan’s head, and that is intensely compounded by how Pearce shoots many of the scenes. As our lead character looks around, he sees insect-like creatures scattering that at first, you’re sure everyone sees and is just blind to, just living their lives oblivious. Then as the helmer adds mystery and the possibility of mental illness as something that Khan may possess, one starts to wonder if indeed these threats are simply in his head… or they’re as real as a full-blown alien invasion.
All told, it adds up to a surprisingly compelling drama that will leave you thinking about the film long after the viewing experience concludes. It is well-acted, well-directed, well shot, edited, and scored. Now, it’s not a movie that’s going to demand Oscar attention—even if this is “awards season.” But let’s be real, very few movies legitimately are worthy of consideration by the Academy. They also don’t have a history of honoring films such as Encounter. The way the story progresses through issues such as modern fatherhood, mental health, how humans treat their mother planet and much more are handled all within the framework of telling this story. As such, it is powerful and most importantly, resonant.
Grade: A-