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Sharp Corner

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Sharp Corner
Film poster
Directed byJason Buxton
Written byJason Buxton
Based on"Sharp Corner"
by Russell Wangersky
Produced by
  • Paul Barkin
  • Jason Buxton
  • Jason Levangie
  • Susan Mullen
  • Marc Tetreault
Starring
CinematographyGuy Godfree
Edited byJorge Weisz
Music byStephen McKeon
Production
companies
Distributed byElevation Pictures (Canada)
Release date
  • September 6, 2024 (2024-09-06) (TIFF)
Running time
110 minutes
CountriesCanada
Ireland
LanguageEnglish

Sharp Corner is a 2024 thriller film written and directed by Jason Buxton. Based on the 2012 short story by Russell Wangersky, the film stars Ben Foster as Josh McCall, a man who becomes obsessed with saving car accident victims at the sharp road corner near his home.[1] It is produced by Paul Barkin, Marc Tetreault, Jason Levangie, Susan Mullen and Buxton.

Cast

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  • Ben Foster as Josh
  • Cobie Smulders as Rachel, Josh's wife
  • William Kosovic as Max
  • Gavin Drea as Erikson
  • Alexandra Castillo as Tamara
  • Jonathan Watton as Peter
  • Reid Price as Drew
  • Leah Johnston as Kate
  • Andrew Shaver as Ben
  • Bob Mann as Stephen
  • Allison Wilson-Forbes as Eva
  • Wayne Burns as Tim
  • Gita Miller as Alicia
  • Eugene Sampang as Alan
  • David Light as Chad
  • Steve Lawrence as Howard
  • Emily Jewer as Collins
  • Ryan Willis as carnival worker
  • Susan Leblanc-Crawford as mourning mother

Production

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Buxton's second feature film following Blackbird in 2012,[1] the film entered the development process in the late 2010s, with its screenplay included in the International Financing Forum at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.[2]

It was filmed in 2023 in the Halifax, Nova Scotia, area.[3]

Release

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The film was screened for distributors at the 2024 Berlin Film Market,[4] and premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.[5]

It was subsequently screened at the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Atlantic Canadian Feature and Best Atlantic Canadian Director.[6] In October 2024, it was showcased at the 19th Rome Film Festival.[7]

In November 2024, Vertical acquired the United States distribution rights for the film and will release the film theatrically in the second quarter of 2025.[8]

Critical reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 36 critics' reviews are positive.[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on six critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[10]

Christian Blauvelt of IndieWire graded the film a B, writing, "What's so thrilling about Sharp Corner, Jason Buxton's atmospheric descent into madness, is how strongly it refuses to explain itself. There are a lot of different readings you could apply here, but there's still a pervasive novelistic ambiguity that defies any one interpretation."[11]

Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars and wrote, "Apart from its meticulous deconstruction of a family coming apart, Sharp Corner is memorable for its thoughtful compositions, which put a lot of information into each frame at different planes of distance and let us decide where to look. The camera moves a lot, but mostly slowly, and always for a reason: to reveal or conceal something, or fill us with anxiety. Guy Godfree's cinematography has a mid-'70s American New Wave feeling. It's rich and clear even in dark scenes, but never ostentatiously beautiful. Every shot is about making you feel as if you live in this little world."[12]

Kristy Puchko's Mashable review concludes: "Focused so intently on the inner turmoil of its ego-ravaged hero, Sharp Corner is leanly executed. But Buxton and Wangersky seems to lose faith in their audience in the second act, offering a sequence where a psychiatrist basically spells out what Josh is going through (though she's not knowingly talking about him). Despite this detour, the finale regains momentum. Ultimately, a smart premise is poignantly brought to life by Foster and Smulders, making for a psychological thriller that is nerve-rattlingly tense and a family drama that is unapologetically gutting."[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b Kelly Townsend, "Neon International boards Jason Buxton's Sharp Corner". Playback, February 15, 2024.
  2. ^ Regan Reid, "TIFF '17: 20 Canadian producing teams selected for IFF". Playback, August 29, 2017.
  3. ^ Morgan Mullin, "Director Thom Fitzgerald makes a new movie, Fawzia Mirza's directorial feature wraps and more local film and TV news". The Coast, May 19, 2023.
  4. ^ Alex Ritman, "Neon Boards 'Sharp Corner' Starring Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders, Launching Sales in Berlin". Variety, February 14, 2024.
  5. ^ Jeremy Kay, "Toronto film festival adds Angelina Jolie, Mike Leigh, Edward Burns, David Mackenzie titles". Screen Daily, July 22, 2024.
  6. ^ Brendyn Creamer, "All the winners of the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival". The Coast, September 17, 2024.
  7. ^ "Three new titles in the program of the Film Fest". Cinema Foundation for Rome. 4 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  8. ^ Grobar, Matt (November 5, 2024). "Vertical Acquires Psychological Thriller 'Sharp Corner' Starring Ben Foster & Cobie Smulders". Deadline Hollywood.
  9. ^ "Sharp Corner". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2025-05-19.
  10. ^ "Sharp Corner". Metacritic. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
  11. ^ Blauvelt, Christian (2024-09-07). "'Sharp Corner' Review: Midlife, Existential Crisis Thriller Is a Stunning Showcase for Ben Foster". IndieWire. Retrieved 2025-02-20.
  12. ^ Zoller Seitz, Matt (2025). "Sharp Corner". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
  13. ^ Puchko, Kristy (2024-09-07). "'Sharp Corner' review: Ben Foster embraces anxiety and toxic masculinity". Mashable. Retrieved 2025-02-20.
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