‘Sharp Corner’ follows one man’s obsession with saving the people who repeatedly crash their cars into his front yard.
Not everyone is equipped to respond during an emergency. Besides not having the skills and training to take appropriate action, some people do not react well under pressure. It’s important to keep a level head and avoid potentially making a bad situation worse. Unfortunately, failing to act in response to a crisis can be a blow to someone’s ego as they find themselves useless when it matters the most, and perhaps they then seek an opportunity to redeem themselves. In Sharp Corner, a family’s new home turns into a nightmare as it becomes the site of frequent, deadly collisions.
Josh (Ben Foster), Rachel (Cobie Smulders) and their young son Max (William Kosovic) just moved into their dream home. It’s outside the city so it has a lot of green space, but is close enough to commute to work and school. But on their first night in the house, a car careens off the road into their front yard. Josh then fixates on the accident and the driver who was killed, which Rachel finds distasteful and a little troubling. Nonetheless, they try to move forward and embrace their new space… until the sharp corner causes it to happen again and again. While Rachel and Max become increasingly frightened by the threat of crushing metal and strangers dying on their lawn, Josh obsesses with being able to prevent their deaths.
Josh develops the textbook definition of a hero complex akin to the firefighter so consumed by rescuing people from fires that they start to set the blazes themselves. He’s obviously trying to fill a void as it becomes apparent he and Rachel’s physical relationship is lacking and he is not able to climb the corporate ladder at work. Josh is a good father, but even that gradually stops being his priority as he tries to set the bar for his life’s achievements higher. He develops a morbid fascination with the collisions and their victims, as if knowing more about them will help him prevent them. The accidents are horrific, though audiences only hear the devastating, booming sound of impact and then see the ghastly aftermath of the crash.
Foster is outstanding, portraying a man who can’t recognize the damage his preoccupation is causing his relationships. It appears he may also have a drinking a problem, but that only seems to supplement his addiction to the collisions. His obsession with the accidents has a direct correlation with the increased inappropriateness of his behaviour, which by the movie’s end is predictably out of control. Smulders’ character, in the meantime, tries to avoid Josh’s unraveling by focusing on the mental health and physical safety of their son. She’s angry and anxious, becoming progressively more demanding that things change and putting increased stress on an already strained marriage.
It’s not difficult to foresee where the story is going, but Foster’s performance and the journey to impending disaster is so gripping viewers will want to follow the path to its inevitable conclusion.
Sharp Corner had its world premiere in the Special Presentations programme at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Read other reviews from the festival.
Director: Jason Buxton
Starring: Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders and Alexandra Castillo
