“It’s about the line between being a hero and being a villain. That obsession with doing good—when does it become something darker?” says writer-director Jason Buxton of Sharp Corner, reflecting his fascination with moral ambiguity and the psychological descent of his protagonist. The film isn’t just a thriller—it’s a meditation on identity, purpose, and the fragile boundary between altruism and obsession.
Jason Buxton’s creative journey toward Sharp Corner didn’t begin in a studio—it began in a bookstore.
After the critical success of Blackbird, he didn’t chase Hollywood formulas or streaming trends. Instead, he wandered the aisles of Canadian bookstores, drawn to voices grounded in place, nuance, and emotional realism. It was there he discovered Russell Wangersky’s Whirl Away, a collection rich with psychological terrain.
Buxton’s hands-on, almost analogue approach to inspiration underlines his commitment to storytelling rooted in character and place. Adaptation, for him, isn’t about mimicry—it’s about immersion. He didn’t just option Wangersky’s stories; he inhabited them, shaping Sharp Corner into a haunting exploration of obsession, moral ambiguity, and the blurry boundary between heroism and darkness.
With its moody atmospherics and restrained pace, Sharp Corner forgoes spectacle for emotional excavation. It invites the viewer into a slow-burning descent—mirroring the very process through which Buxton crafted it. In a cinematic landscape that often favors noise over nuance, Sharp Corner whispers—and leaves a deeper scar because of it.
He was immediately drawn to its psychological depth and haunting atmosphere. Originally, Buxton planned to adapt multiple stories from the collection into a Magnolia-style ensemble film, but as he developed Sharp Corner, it demanded more space. The story’s emotional complexity and eerie tone grew into a full-length script that became his second feature film.
“I consumed four stories standing there in the store, and my original idea was to do a Magnolia type story where there were multiple storylines that would converge at the end, and Sharp Corner was one of those stories. But as I developed Sharp Corner, it became more than a third of a movie or a half of a movie. It demanded and needed a deeper exploration, and it became a hundred-page script.”
Buxton was particularly fascinated by the psychological unravelling of the protagonist, Josh, and the way trauma, obsession, and the desire to be a hero intersect.
“Sharp Corner delves into the heart of what it means to be a man in an evolving society. It questions the very nature of heroism and asks whether Josh is an aberration of his environment or a product of it.,” says Buxton. “There’s no moral judgment here—only a stark portrayal of a man’s slow, inexorable collapse. Josh’s story is both repulsive and exhilarating, a mirror held up to society’s darkest impulses. As the audience, we are forced to confront our own complicity in his downfall, left to wonder: what does our fascination with his moral decay say about us?”
Ben Foster is one of the great American actors of his generation, known for playing headstrong,
determined characters. He is not an actor who emotionalises his roles or intellectualises them – he mines them. He digs uncommonly deep for a purpose. And therein lies the irony because this character is anything but deep: “There’s very little self-introspection with Josh. He’s not doing a lot of personal investigation. He’s trying to be proactive as a modern man. He tucks in his shirt; he says thank you; he shakes hands. That’s about as far as his development got.”
“When I first read the script, I didn’t totally understand it, but I was drawn to it,” Foster added. “There’s a magnetism to the piece. Jason used a word that really activated me: normalism. It’s not realism, it’s normalism. The more times I read the script, the clearer the images became. And the most mundane actions, which are very carefully placed architecturally within the script, become all the more devastating in their normalism.”
Director’s Statement
Jason Buxton is a Canadian writer-director known for his emotionally resonant and psychologically rich storytelling. Raised in both the UK and Canada, he’s based in Chester, Nova Scotia, and holds dual citizenship. Buxton began his filmmaking journey with a series of short films—A Fresh Start, The Garden, and The Drawing—before making a major impact with his debut feature Blackbird in 2012.
Sharp Corner plunges you into the unraveling life of Josh McCall, a seemingly ordinary man whose quest for purpose leads him down a perilous path. As a devoted family man, Josh should be living the dream—loving wife, young son, and a stable job. Yet, he’s haunted by an unshakable sense of emptiness, a gnawing feeling that something is missing.
When a series of car accidents occurs at the treacherous bend in front of his house, Josh seizes upon the chance to make a difference. He becomes obsessed with saving the victims, convinced that he can be their saviour. But as his well-intentioned efforts falter, Josh’s mission twists into a dangerous fixation. His once-noble desire to help morphs into a desperate need to play the hero, even if it means risking everything—including the very family he’s sworn to protect.
Josh’s descent is both disturbing and captivating, drawing parallels to Dante’s journey through a dark and confusing wood. He’s a man who did everything by the book—college, career, marriage—but now finds himself lost, adrift in a world that no longer makes sense. His quiet desperation, masked by a facade of normalcy, slowly gives way to a darker force within him.
The audience is pulled into his spiraling obsession, watching as Josh’s moral compass deteriorates and his once-good intentions become a sinister drive for recognition.
The film builds tension with every scene, each car accident a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. The camera’s steady, probing gaze mirrors the audience’s curiosity, searching for answers in Josh’s unravelling psyche. Is he merely a victim of his circumstances, or is there something more sinister at play? The suspense is palpable, keeping viewers on edge as they anticipate the next twist in Josh’s dangerous journey.
Sharp Corner is not just a psychological thriller; it’s a dark satire that subtly critiques the fragile nature of contemporary masculinity. In a world where success is often measured by control and power, Josh’s story serves as a cautionary tale. His transformation from humble family man to cunning narcissist is both tragic and unsettling, reflecting the deep-seated societal pressures that push men to the brink.
The film’s visual language, inspired by films such as Parasite, Nightcrawler, and Joker, creates a world that feels both familiar and disturbingly off-kilter. As with my previous film, Blackbird, the viewer is placed uncomfortably close to the protagonist, forced to grapple with the uncomfortable truths of his journey. But in Sharp Corner, the absurdist undertones take the narrative to a whole new level, creating a tension that keeps the audience guessing until the very end.
