Sharp Corner Parent Guide

Josh (Ben Foster) and Rachel (Cobie Smulders) have just moved into their dream home with their son, Max (William Kosovic) – or so they think. Their first night in the house, a drunk teenager loses control of his car on a sharp turn, wrapping his car around the tree in Josh and Rachel’s new front yard. Rachel and Max are pretty shaken up, but Josh is more concerned with the idea that he could have saved the boy’s life if he had known how. He throws himself into a first aid course and does what he can to make the street corner safer, but it’s not long before someone else dies on their yard after an accident in the turn. Rachel wants to sell the house, concerned about the effect this is having on Max, but Josh is more convinced than ever that he can save some of these people, and he’s not about to give up on that idea.

Sharp Corner is a really interesting thriller. Josh’s gradual descent into madness is offset by Ben Foster’s unassuming, quiet, and generally affable performance a la early Walter White in Breaking Bad. His obsession with the road hazard evolves gradually in a way that sucks you in despite the slow, seemingly calm nature of much of the film. You can watch him, literally, go around the bend. Cobie Smulders doesn’t have quite as much to do, sidelined into the wife-in-a-psychological-thriller role as the voice of reason, but her growing disquiet over her husband’s increasingly manic behaviour is an essential contrast, and she does it well.

Despite the violence at the heart of the story, little actual carnage appears on screen. Most of the car accidents are somewhat impersonal, but you do see some close ups of the aftermath, including a man burning alive in his vehicle. You’re also treated to some regular adult drinking and a sex scene starring Ben Foster’s and Cobie Smulders’ backsides, but, in compensation, the film has virtually no profanity.

I enjoyed the film mostly for its subtlety. Unlike some movies which vomit explanations down your throat like you’re a baby bird, Sharp Corner just presents you with some intriguing characters and their choices and then shows you the consequences. You’re at liberty to explore your own interpretations, all of which are both unsettling and fascinating, and that’s a freedom few films afford their audience. If nothing else, Sharp Corner should serve as a good anti-speeding ad for your local municipality.