Now here’s an interesting triumvirate: Scottish director David Mackenzie and British stars Riz Ahmed and Lily James, choosing to work in the US – mostly in NYC – in what is a fascinating thriller.

Not only does the film’s title loosely relate to them working as a team, but also acts as crucial form of communication that helps propel its twisty turny narrative.

Someone finding herself in a bit of a pickle is Sarah (James); she’s a scientist that has some documents that proves her company are producing food, by way of genetically modified wheat, that’s been proven to have devastating side effects.

Initially she was going to whistle blow, giving the documents to newspapers reveal the unbelievable statistics, but then she backs down, and decides she just wants a way to return them to the company.

She’s told that the best way is to use the service of a fixer (Ahmed), who keeps his identity a secret, and acts as a middle man, cleverly using a Tri-State Relay service, to exchange the sensitive material from Sarah and her company.

However, a counterintelligence team, run by Dawson (Sam Worthington), working on behalf of the company, are prepared to use their savvy to crack the code the fixer uses, and retrieve the documents at any cost.

Mackenzie’s film is palpably riveting and clearly borrows the DNA from certain seventies thriller, but most notably Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 classic The Conversation.

For instance, despite being a modern film set in present day, it embraces an analogue technology, that of physical paper documents, and ignores all things digital.

On top of that, the communication between Sarah and the fixer is analogue too, with the relay service having its operators used as medium, passing messages back and forth between the two.

And like those seventies thrillers, Mackenzie slowly builds the tension throughout to what is an undoubtedly satisfying conclusion.

Ahmed is superb, and even though he doesn’t have an awful lot to say, he takes on several disguises to make sure he’s on top of the scenario. And James oozes vulnerability that is totally believable. It’s also good to see Worthington, refreshingly non-blue, having almost committed the majority of his acting career to the borefest that is Avatar.

Mackenzie directs with an assured hand, not only giving the film a classic cinematic look, harking back to those seventies flicks, but also maintains an analogue sentiment to the story, which results in a truly captivating experience.