I’m here to tell everyone three things. But let’s start with the headline: Sharp Corner is one of the best things I’ve seen at TIFF.
Secondly, the synopsis set expectations around Toronto for a Cronberg-esque film. And it’s an easy comparison for sure- a man becomes obsessed with the car crashes near his home, pushing himself into danger. But Crash this is not. So readjust any expectations there.
Likewise, Ben Foster brings some level of expectations that should be set aside by audiences, all for the best, as he delivers a canny, unsettling performance that you haven’t seen from him before.
A few years ago at SXSW, I described his performance in Galveston as a “hurricane” and that’s the style he has certainly become known for as one of today’s finest working actors that always seems to be a film’s highlight. And this job is no different in quality, just in his delivery.
Wholly transformative, Foster plays Josh, the father of a family that recently moved into a house on the titular sharp corner that has multiple fatal car crashes to their surprise (this is one of the only faults, as they even acknowledge it was odd that the house was on the market for half a year but didn’t realize why.)
While the accidents scare his wife Rachel, played by a similarly excellent Cobie Smulders, Foster’s reaction is curiosity-turned-recklessness which endangers his whole world. And by the end, you might be actively hoping his world collapses.
Also to the credit of writer/director Jason Buxton and co-writer Russell Wangersky, it’s a thoroughly engaging study in obsession and destruction (not all the dissimilar to The Cut also here at TIFF but a different side of obsession.)
As soon as Josh speaks, he comes off as childish. Soft-spoken, he tells Rachel that he is going to put a swing on the tree. Before any other upgrades in the house, he wants to build a putting green in the yard. He’s a child. And this only progresses visually throughout the movie, as he becomes so hyper-focused on just this one thing. Trying to save lives is like a game for him.
What is the exact purpose of his hero complex? What gap is he filling in his life? That’s not entirely clear, but it’s a fascinating deconstruction all the same.
And the question of why Rachel ever married Josh soon turns into, “Why hasn’t she left him?” That’s where Smulders is at her best, once she sees her husband is anything but that, providing strength where Foster embodies weakness.
Still, it’s a vehicle for Foster to show his depth, and once the story reaches its apex, Buxton achieves a remarkable feat, perfectly balancing the high stakes of the last crash that Josh witnesses and Josh’s self-destruction to test the audience’s instincts. Do we want to see a deluded man feel justified? Or is it better to see him defeated when he can’t save the latest unfortunate soul in his front yard?
The ending is a true tightrope act, and Buxton and crew don’t fall, making Sharp Corner one of the sharpest acts of the year.
