Sharp Corner

If you're looking for horror, explosions, death, car chases or other violence this isn't for you. This is a movie that requires your full attention and apsorption. If you're patient enough, and can stand long moments without sounds or flashing lights, you'll be rewarded with Ben Foster at his absolute finest. And choosing to bounce his crazed character off of the sorely-underappreciated Cobie Smulders' in the role of his baffled and frustrated wife was genius casting. She takes a script that could've been cookie-cluttered and, through lots of "face acting" (saying a lot but without words - which I love to watch good actors do) she turns it into my favorite character in the movie.

The rest of the supporting cast are impressive and believable but names I've never heard of. Probably all Canadians, given the filming location. Speaking of the location, IMDb doesn't have it listed quite right. The actual, almost 90° corner is where River Road and Terence Bay Trail intersect north of the IMDb-listed address. The house used in the movie was specifically built for the film on the southeast corner. It's even currently viewable on Google Maps. Regardless, the location and the way it was captured by the cinematographer perfectly captures the haunting spiral of Ben's character. The direction is moody and clever in its use of its angles, lighting, and framing.

Fair warning: the movie is slow. But it's supposed to be. Viewers expecting (needing?) constant attention and action will be disappointed. This is for lovers of psychological thrillers but without the usual bloodfest type of "thrills". This is a step-by-step trip into the declining brain of a delusional man. We're never really told how this psychosis might've manifested itself in the character (and I suppose it's not really necessary that we do know), but Ben Foster completely absorbs the role. It's been a long time since I've watched an actor take a character and flesh it out this much. Some of his scenes should be shown in college acting classes. 7 from me, but without Ben it might've been a 5 or 6.

This movie demands your patience and attention span. But the story is most effective in this way.

First off, the acting is excellent, and Ben Foster is captivating. I sensed what may happen, but his character adapted and changed his MO a few times.

This is about an unsung hero, who goes through crisis after crisis, but insists on solving the problem himself. Cobie Smuldrrs is excellent as well, and works well in her hyper-organized, perfectionist character.

The tension builds as Foster's character realizes his true calling. Consumed with a new occupation, battling mortal danger, he seeks to fight it head on.

This film is excellent with a plaintive soundtrack, well-rounded characters; and a narrative which belies exposition and resorts to thoughtful yet misguided strategies.

This is a very worthwhile film, but it requires your attention and curiosity.

It just moves along at a snails pace. I like the setting, the idea/story but it's just so slow. I like the direction the story goes but it's an agonizingly slow journey getting there. There are literally scenes of nothing for minutes at a time and you start yelling at the screen "C'mon something happen!" There are I believe three brief exciting scenes in the nearly two hour runtime. Several times throughout the movie I zoned out from boredom. A fairly original idea is what got me through to the end. I will say all the acting was top notch but as I said before it was just too slow. So was I entertained? Well, yes... for about 1\4 of the movie. Which is not nearly enough.

Greetings again from the darkness. Purchasing a home is often called 'The American Dream.' For Josh and Rachel, it's even more special when their son, 6-year-old Max, refers to their new place as "a mansion". Sometimes (especially in movies) dreams turn into nightmares, and that's exactly what happens in this film from writer-director Jason Buxton (his first feature since his debut BLACKBIRD, 2012). Adapted from the short story by Russell Wangersky, this film is billed as a psychological thriller - which it is, yet it's also an enigmatic character study.

Ben Foster (HELL OR HIGH WATER, 2018) plays Josh. Only this isn't the Ben Foster we've come to expect. His usual high-intensity and simmering danger-on-edge is replaced by a mild-mannered man who is even a bit meek whether dealing with his wife or the new manager he once trained at work. Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill in the Marvel Universe) plays his wife Rachel, and their first night in the new house leads to one of the worst cases of coitus-interruptus in history. A car tire comes flying through the living room window just after the loud crash of a car hitting the tree in their front yard. The horrific wreck leaves a young man dead, and the family stunned.

As you might have guessed from the film's title, their new home is located on a dangerous curve. The only warning sign for drivers is mostly blocked by overgrown vegetation. Josh's reaction to the wreck amplifies his struggles at work, while also creating tension with Rachel. He wants to talk about it, and she wants to ignore it. A second wreck has Josh trying to comfort the driver. The wreck convinces Rachel it's time to move, while it simultaneously convinces Josh he could have saved the man's life. Clandestine CPR lessons follow, while family therapy exposes all we need to know.

Rather than a curve, Josh and Rachel come to a fork in the road ... and take different paths. While Josh becomes obsessed with waiting for the next wreck so he can save a life. Rachel simply wants to protect herself and her son, and avoid the obsessed Josh. He's a man who desperately wants to be a savior to strangers, when the best thing he could be is a father/husband. Foster's performance is unlike anything we have seen from him, and it can't help but make us feel uneasy. Director Buxton gives us an early sneak peek at the curve, but mostly we are confused as to why a speed bump or protective/reflective barrier hasn't been installed. Sometimes a movie leaves us feeling like it should have been more interesting, more entertaining, ... more something ... than it was. Foster keeps us watching, yet the whole thing feels a bit hollow.

Opens in select theaters and VOD on May 9, 2025.

The mild-mannered "Josh" (Ben Foster), his wife "Rachel" (Cobie Smulders) and their son "Max" (William Kosovic) have a brand new home and are looking forward to settling in when there is a car accident outside and a tyre comes a-bouncing through their window at a seriously inopportune moment! Needless to say they are a bit flustered and she thinks maybe they ought to move. Well when it happens again, you'd think that'd be a bit of a no-brainer but he is somehow captivated. Not by the accidents, but by the time it takes the emergency services to arrive, and so he decides to do some training to be able to help out. Of course, his wife and young son are perplexed by his increasingly odd behaviour, as is his boss, and so there's soon a lot on the line for the man. I enjoyed the start of this, and I thought this might be Foster's best performance, but after about half an hour it became a rather joyless exhibition of obsessiveness and selfishness topped off by a truly far-fetched, though sometimes darkly comedic, desire to do good. Smulders does fine, but only features sparingly - which is just as well for given her character is supposed to be a couples therapist, "Rachel" shows a complete lack of appreciation of her husband's trauma and of their son's needs that is ultimately annoyingly breathtaking. Sadly, the initially good idea just turns into a series of overly contrived bad decisions stitched together with an implausible series of incidents that rushed through some universally unlikeable and undercooked characterisations and left me wanting more - or less. Sorry.