Sharp Corner

''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.Kelly Townsend
"Neon International boards Jason Buxton's Sharp Corner"
'' Playback'', February 15, 2024. It is produced by Paul Barkin, Marc Tetreault, Jason Levangie, Susan Mullen and Buxton.

Cast

Production

Buxton's second feature film following '' Blackbird'' in 2012, 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.

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

Release

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

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. In October 2024, it was showcased at the 19th Rome Film Festival.

In November 2024, Vertical acquired the United States distribution rights for the film and was released on May 9, 2025.

Critical reception

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."

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."

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."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 9569096

2024 films
2024 thriller films
2020s Canadian films
2020s English-language films
2020s Irish films
Canadian thriller films
English-language Canadian films
English-language thriller films
Films about road accidents and incidents
Films based on Canadian short stories
Films scored by Stephen McKeon
Films shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Irish thriller films