An honest portrayal of how obsession can derail one's life.
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Sometimes, in the midst of big-budget films with multi-pronged storylines, lies a simple little film with a singular vision. Such is the thriller Sharp Corner, written and directed by Jason Buxton and starring Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders.
Sharp Corner follows Josh McCall (Foster), a man who becomes obsessed with the accidents caused by the sharp road corner near his home. What entails is the resulting downfall of a man caused by the obsession. To view the film is to watch a man make a mountain out of a molehill, in both aspects of Buxton’s idealogy and McCall’s actions.
The true nature of why the accidents appeal to Josh as much as it does lies within audience’s understanding and tolerance of his character. We see him begin by using the misfortune of others to his gain. The grief and sympathy from strangers emboldening him so much that he soon becomes the cause of the accidents instead. This inexplicable obsession ignites a fire within that makes him a changed man his wife no longer recognises. The obsession causes him to lose sight of time and himself, eventually leaving him with no job and no family.
Buxton challenges the notion of how far one man’s obsession can take him and Foster proves to be the right man for the job to carry out the agonising transition of a normal everyday man to an all-consumed reclusive. No stranger to roles that require him to portray a believable outcast, the actor is a quiet and vicious talent that should not be disregarded, practicing great restraint that lends to building the man Josh is and becomes. There’s a cunning sass that belies Josh's inferior outlook, a characteristic unveiled to be terrifyingly egoistic that eventually takes more precedence and derails his life.
Sharp Corner is a careful and calculated slow burn thriller that’s worth every one of its 111-minute runtime if you have the patience for it. The film is an exploration of the hero complex in a way which is rarely addressed but most of all, a stunning feat at drawing out a simple concept into something well-developed.
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