The line between preparedness and obsession is a fine one in Jason Buxton’s Sharp Corner, starring Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders. The Nova Scotia-shot drama watches a family man’s very ordinary and mundane life crumble before him as his obsession about car accidents in his front yard take over his life.
Josh (Foster) and wife Rachel (Smulders) have just moved to the outskirts of the city. More countryside than suburb, their new home sits on a sharp curve in the road. The peace and clam of the first night in their new house is shattered when a car crashes into their front yard, killing the young driver and sparking a curiosity that soon becomes an obsession for Josh. First, Josh discovers that these accidents here are not uncommon so he begins to prepare for the next one by learning CPR, trimming hedges that block road signs, and researching the car crash victim. As waiting turns to eager anticipation, Josh’s life is overtaken by his obsession about not just preventing and being prepared for the next crash, but his desire to become a saviour.
Josh’s behaviour is unsettling and Buxton keeps him at arm’s length, hinting that the transformation the meek tech exec may have a more disturbing side. He’s a bit of a loser, passed over for promotion, unwilling or unable to speak up for himself at work and under the shadow of his successful therapist wife at home. With Josh’s marriage failing, Foster plays the man quietly before his obsession takes a sharp turn at the film’s climax. This transition that creates a layer of intrigue to Sharp Corner, juxtaposing the ordinariness of suburban life with the increasingly horrific car crashes and Josh’s response to them. Buxton’s camera work is fine, closing in on the suburban claustrophobia Josh and Rachel’s dream home exudes. Nova Scotia looks creepy here, less inviting than perhaps tourism ads would suggest thanks to cinematography by Guy Godfree.
Smulders is good, reacting in a very plausible and real way to some of Josh’s more extreme behaviours, although she and the film’s other characters feel largely underwritten at the expense of Josh. The atmospheric tension is echoed by Stephen McKeon’s ominous score, illuminating Josh’s experience. However good Foster is, Sharp Corner doesn’t quite nail everything its going for. While the rest of the film is rooted in reality, Josh’s downward spiral would surely have been caught long before he reaches peak infatuation. Although the focus of the film is on Josh, viewers aren’t given more than a surface-level insight into his motivations. The story raises more questions than it ultimately answers.
