On May 29, the psychological thriller «Sharp Corner» starring Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders was released in cinemas. The plot of the film is based on the short story of the same name by Canadian writer and journalist Russell Wangersky. In the review below, we share our impressions of this seemingly unremarkable new release.
Genre psychological thriller
Director Jason Buxton
Starring Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders, Gavin Drea, Alexandra Castillo, Jonathan Wotton, Reed Price, Leah Johnston, Andrew Shaver, Bob Mann
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb
It seems that the McCall family (somewhere in here, I’m sure, it’s a to «the equalizer» Denzel Washington), things are looking up when Josh, his wife Rachel, and their schoolboy son Max finally move into their dream home. Believing in a bright future, they settle into their new home, and everyone’s mood is so high that the couple decides to have sex on the floor after putting the kid to bed. However, before they have time to find a comfortable position, a car tire crashes through the window of the room — an extremely spectacular scene — suddenly.
It was one of the local high school students who lost control while drunk and crashed into a tree right next to the house at high speed. Later, another car crash occurs in the same spot, and then another. Josh discovers that the sharp curve directly in front of the house and many other factors are responsible for the systemic accidents. He becomes obsessed with the idea of saving the next doomed driver, and this obsession leads to the fact that the man gradually loses not only himself but also his family.
Along with the very recent «Cuckoo» «Sharp Corner» was another film in our distribution that was critically acclaimed, but the audience, given the ratings, did not take it well. Indeed, the slow, drawn-out narrative here can scare off some of the audience, but this does not mean that the movie is not worth watching.
In a sense, the film is not only a declared psychological thriller, but also a natural, albeit completely bizarre, horror movie that flirts with the typical genre trope «moving into a cursed house». However, the local family is faced not with demons or some monsters from the attic, but with a real human obsession, and this beast is much more threatening than fictional mythical horror stories.
The need to save someone’s life becomes Josh’s raison d’être, and he doesn’t notice how his own is crumbling. Things are getting worse at his hated office job. He pays less and less attention to his son. As a result, Rachel begins to look at her lover with caution. In the aforementioned sex scene, she wins the right to be on top, and later the couple exchanges gender roles altogether — while the woman disappears at work, the man takes up cooking for his wife’s arrival. And most importantly, they look out the window with hope, in case there is an inattentive or drunk driver on the road right now.
It was this kind of male softness and weakness of character that Julian McMahon’s character criticized in the fresh in my memory «The Surfer» with Nicolas Cage — also a psychological thriller whose protagonist was pretty much melted down, even though he was just about to buy a new house. If you recall, the local cultists there glorified toxic masculinity in the modern world; well, with such a character, Foster’s Josh would have no chance of getting into McMahon’s pack. Plus, his madness is still different from Cage’s typical madness — even at one point, Josh grabs a chainsaw, just like Cage in «Mandy», but their intentions for using the tool are completely opposite.
On the other hand, if Death in the still relevant at the box office «Final Destination» did have a face, it would be the infinitely tired face of Ben Foster. And the popular horror franchise we mentioned this for a reason, because in one of the scenes a textbook log truck — loaded to the brim with logs suddenly appears from behind a corner, and what is this but a harbinger of a terrible accident on the road?
It is also necessary to note the extremely good work of 44-year-old Foster, who subtly feels his character, adds peculiar touches in the form of movements, facial expressions, etc. This allows us to better understand the character of Josh, who is completely unremarkable even by his wardrobe, to realize his existential crisis, his desire to assert himself, or both. It is not difficult to predict the inevitability of his personal catastrophe.
«Sharp Corner» is not particularly designed to entertain: rather, the film tries to keep the viewer in a moderate state of suspense and requires perseverance and thoughtfulness. Although it is quite interesting and as down-to-earth as possible, it is still a gloomy, depressing movie. And before watching it, you should consider whether you really need this story about the destructive power of an all-consuming obsession that is more frightening than any demon.
