SHARP CORNER – Review

While the halls of the multiplex are filled with the sounds of battling superheroes and video game icons and even some 1930s bloodsuckers, here comes a film that “identifies” as a thriller, though it’s really an insightful character study set during a family crisis. Plus, it’s a compelling showcase for one of our most gifted actors, who often brings “more to the plate’ in many recent action flicks. Oh, and he’s paired with an actress who’s best known for her work in a long-running TV sitcom. But she’s not eliciting laughs here as a young mother dealing with the slowly eroding sanity of her spouse, triggered by the purchase of their dream house that borders a road’s very dangerous SHARP CORNER.

In the story’s opening moments, the McCall family, Papa Josh (Ben Foster), Mama Rachel (Cobie Smulders), and their adorable “moppet”, seven-year-old Max (William Kosovic) arrive at their new home. It’s a sprawling track-house just off the curve of a two-lane road. After the unpacking, dinner, and putting Max to bed, the adults decide to officially “christen” the place with some quiet lovemaking in the living room. But the erotic calm ends abruptly when an automobile tire comes smashing through the huge bay front window. A drunken teen lost control of his car on the curve and crashed head-on into the big tree in the front yard. The authorities arrive too late, which unlocks an idea in Josh, which distracts him at his online tech job the next day (he needs to be on the ball since his old trainee is now his boss). And then another accident occurs. Josh rushes to the scene but doesn’t know what to do during the seemingly endless wait for the EMTs. His sensitive son is having nightmares, which prompts Rachel to insist that they move from this “death trap”. Josh reacts much differently. He begins taking a course in life-saving skills, and even orders a deluxe CPR manikin, all while keeping this a secret from his wife. Soon, Josh is “working from home” to be with Max, while really hoping another crash happens in order to use his new “talents”. When Rachel learns of his obsession, can they hold the family together as Josh assumes the role of “roadside protector”?

As I mentioned earlier, this story gives an opportunity for two talented actors to really “stretch’ and work outside their “comfort zones”. In that aspect, this is an excellent showcase for Foster, who, in a string of action/suspense flicks, has been the quiet, calculating, cold-blooded menace, always coiled to strike at any second. But Josh is a real “piece of work”, a repressed, awkward enigma who only seems to spark when playing with his kid. Foster plays him as a modern day “milquetoast” (I sound ancient), a nondescript passive-aggressive “blip” who has no desire for advancement at his hated job, killing time until he can shuffle about from room to room until he stops at that front window to gaze…and hope for disaster. There’s also a “sing song” 50’s sitcom dad cadence that Foster adopts while trying to “blend into the scenery”. This makes us wonder how in the world Josh landed the sparkling Rachel. Smulders did some dramatic ‘lifting” during her tenure in the MCU, but here she’s a bubbly, strong-willed mother who is fighting to keep the family together after the constant auto carnage just feet from her doorstep. Her Rachel is seeing a side of her hubby that baffles her, until his barrage of silly lies finally breaks her spirit. Both of them shine in the scenes they share with the very unmannered, sensitive Kosovic as the sweet, confused young Max.

In his sophomore feature effort, director Jason Buxton, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Russell Wangersky’s short story, imbues the everyday quiet suburban Canadian settings with an undercurrent of dread and depression. This adds considerable dramatic heft to the “demolition derby” in the front yard of Casa McCall. The sudden savagery jars the viewer as we see it slowly erode the family dynamic (though it doesn’t reach the “horror heights of Cronenberg’s CRASH, nor those old 16mm safety shiorts shown in schools for decades). There’s even some echoes of a superhero “origin” story with “mild-mannerd” Josh training to be “CPR-Man”, though that may trivialize the character’s mental “unraveling”.Ultimately, he frustrates us as he squanders an idyllic homestead, spiraling into self-destruction. It’s surprisingly powerful, weakened a bit by a convoluted and morally conflicted finale. Still, the stellar work of Foster and Smulders makes SHARP CORNER quite a ride. I wonder if they considered using Jan and Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve” for the end credits…

2.5 Out of 4

SHARP CORNER is now playing in select theatres