By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

• Directed by Jason Buxton
• Starring Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders, William Kosovic, Gavin Drea
• Not Rated

Within it’s first 10 minutes, Sharp Corner opens with a literal bang. A botched quickie in a new home is turned suddenly violent as a car veers out of control and crashes into our lead’s newly bought house – or more specifically it’s tree. It’s a literal climax that stops a metaphorical one, and it’s the catalyst for this tale of obsession and toxic masculinity gone awry.

More of a familial camp drama masquerading as a thriller, Sharp Corner is delightfully twisted and wild in the best way. Most audiences, myself included, will immediately make comparisons to David Cronenberg’s genre defining Crash, but while there is certainly elements of that here – you can interpret a psychosexual element to the proceedings very easily if that’s your reading – Sharp Corner is far more about fracturing then it is becoming whole. A marriage breaking apart, a man’s life slowly unravelling, the suddenness of death.

It’s best moments are when it slowly twists the knife into the viewer, making them expect something they know they shouldn’t be excited for. Ben Foster, who is giving one of his career best turns here, is somehow both pitiable where you want him to get at least something right for once but also… off. Not like completely so, but enough to where it’s clear something isn’t exactly right with the guy and you start to question if his intentions are even what they say they are.

His character, Josh, becomes obsessed with the corner on his road causing the accidents. Seemingly, at least at first, out of a want to help the victims get some sort of help. But as time moves on, and he becomes more and more plagued by his thoughts, it becomes clear this is about control and a need to have the narrative centered around him – something common among the elements of toxic masculinity. It’s impossible to not see Josh, by a certain point in the story, as just another man trying to find a level of unreasonable control, clearly uninterested in the feelings of others or how they react to the situation.

While director Jason Buxton’s first film Blackbird was a smaller, more intimate affair, his direction has leveled up considerably with this flick. He shows a magnetic eye for suspense, and he manages to keep things with a dose of dark humor throughout as he understands the premise is a little ridiculous on it’s face as well. A one take in the middle involving a fire truck sequence will knock your socks off – a perfect representation of single minded obsession and how it makes you forget about the little things around you.

And, of course, it ends exactly where you think it will go, and goes through with it. One of the most devilishly satisfying finales you can think of in recent memory, the final images leave you both feeling a little sick while also cackling at the implications. Will he continue going? Has he been satisfied? Hard to say on both counts, but that ambiguity, all shown in Foster’s face, is worth the slow build to get there.

I don’t know if Sharp Corner breaks the mold in significant ways as it is ultimately focusing on themes and ideas that you can find elsewhere. But it is certainly accomplished, entertaining, and remarkably well shot and acted, which is more that can be said about other films of it’s ilk. And when it comes to Canadian thrillers recently, Sharp Corner is absolutely one of the strongest ones out at the moment and as such is worth a look.