‘Sharp Corner’: Toronto Review

Dir: Jason Buxton. Canada/Eire. 2024. 110mins

Ben Foster is usually drawn to tormented or harmful characters, however in Sharp Nook he portrays somebody totally completely different: a compelling non-entity. Based mostly on a Russell Wangersky quick story, Canadian filmmaker Jason Buxton’s second characteristic may very well be described as a psychological drama, following an aggressively passive husband and father as he turns into fixated on the automobile accidents that maintain taking place in his entrance yard. The movie doesn’t surrender its mysteries simply, however some superb performances and a rigorously maintained tone maintain viewers riveted — all within the title of a disquieting exploration of how folks discover scraps of that means of their empty lives.

Effective performances and a rigorously maintained tone

Sharp Nook premieres in Toronto, additionally the launching pad for Buxton’s 2012 debut, Blackbird. Foster and co-star Cobie Smulders will assist increase the profile of this modest image, which may very well be additional strengthened by robust opinions. Whereas arthouse is a risk, streaming companies could also be simply as doubtless a touchdown spot.

Tech-company govt Josh (Foster) and therapist Rachel (Smulders) are a middle-class married couple who’ve simply moved out of the town to a stunning bigger dwelling within the nation with their younger son Max (William Kosovic). The home has only one downside: it’s situated proper subsequent to a pointy flip within the highway, which dashing or drunk drivers usually fail to recognise earlier than they spin out. The primary evening of their new dwelling, a teen motorist dies whereas smashing right into a tree on their garden, one in all his tires flying by way of the window and almost hitting Josh and Rachel. Involved about their anxious youngster, Rachel proposes they transfer, however Josh insists that every thing will probably be okay — though extra lethal crashes happen over the following a number of months.

Early on, Buxton hints that his protagonist is a bit indifferent, with Josh staring off blankly as his household turns into accustomed to this seemingly idyllic dwelling. Wielding a soft-spoken reticence, Foster creates a personality who appears to vanish from each room he’s in, his face mounted in a everlasting sigh and half-smile. (Rachel describes him, unflatteringly, as having a “defensive persona”.) However as soon as the primary deadly accident occurs, Josh begins to take an curiosity within the useless teenager — a quiet, constructing curiosity that begins to distract him from work and his marriage. The crash doesn’t change his outer bearing, however Foster deftly means that one thing has been awoken inside Josh, even when audiences won’t know for a while exactly what it’s.

A lot of Sharp Nook’s fascination comes from trying to unravel Josh’s puzzling agenda. With out telling his spouse, he begins studying CPR — and, extra intriguingly, attends the funeral ensuing from one other deadly automobile crash in entrance of his home, pretending to be a pal of the deceased. Rachel grows more and more apprehensive that Max is exhibiting indicators of post-traumatic stress dysfunction from witnessing these frequent accidents. However Josh refuses to go away, arguing that spending extra time with Max will assist his son get well from the trauma. On the identical time, Josh is silently smarting about not too long ago being handed over for a promotion at work.

Due to its naturalistic strategy to a progressively odd scenario, Sharp Nook dangers dropping its viewers, beginning with the unusual regularity of those automobile crashes. However Buxton and the characters settle for that stunning actuality, which paves the best way for Foster’s dedicated efficiency, a tough tightrope stroll as a person unable (or, maybe, unwilling) to articulate his interior life. Recognized for intense portrayals in movies equivalent to Hell Or Excessive Water, the actor brings that historical past to this position whereas subverting our expectations. Josh by no means explodes within the methods Foster’s earlier characters have, however there’s a simmering unease to this ineffectual particular person which is entrancing. (Stephen McKeon’s ominous rating solely heightens the sense of dread.) When, finally, it turns into obvious why Josh has been behaving so surprisingly, Foster and Buxton have laid out sufficient clues in order that the revelation is comprehensible — albeit, very stunning.

With Foster so muted, his character’s inexplicable tendencies a troubling riddle, Smulders should floor the proceedings, taking part in Rachel as a wise lady who loves her husband however doesn’t comprehend his want to remain on the home. Sharp Nook is the portrait of a failing marriage, and Smulders treats each scene with the right gravity, believably reacting as anybody would to Josh’s complicated actions and eventual deception. She provides Foster the house to play a person so withdrawn that he can not summon the need to specific his bottomless disappointment. The movie sideswipes us by precisely how Josh lastly decides to open up.