Sharper

Coming to Apple TV+ on 17^th February, Sharper, directed by Benjamin Caron, portrays an intelligently constructed story of spite, which develops steadily and intriguingly with intermittent revelations. A romance blooms, fortunes change and ruses are spun. Ties of love and friendship are put to the test when the truth starts to unfold. Deception is always around the corner with this lot. The film attempts to meld elements of various genres into something new – a sort of heist-infused thriller romance, with varying results.

There is a peculiar mood to the piece as a whole that is discomfiting to the viewer. A strange placidness pervades, partly down to incomplete characterisation and partly the cavernous, sparse rooms of contemporary wealth in which the film is largely set; they feel cold and confusing in a manner that does not feel intentional. Sharper also makes no apology for stark filters to declare to the viewer precisely how they should be feeling about each scene. It’s not entirely subtle, but it’s shot well and the cinematography does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of intrigue, particularly in the distant, voyeuristic shots that reflect duplicity.

The movie adopts a curious quadruple-biopic structure, following the individual tales of four significant characters in turn. This is an interesting and potentially neat recipe, but results here in each character remaining under-explored, their intentions and motivations not always coherent – and this is despite the film verging on two hours in length. Impulsive and controlling Madeline (Julianne Moore), elusive Max (Sebastian Stan), downcast Tom (Justice Smith) and deceptive Sandra (Briana Middleton) are each pursued by their share of the narrative, interweaving with one another in brilliant and sometimes surprising ways.

What is Sharper? Possibly Sharper does not even know the answer to that question. Fusing genres is all very well, but this melting pot of thriller, romance and heist elements is guilty of being somewhere lost in between and, as a consequence, missing its mark just a little. That is not to say it isn’t a compelling watch – isolate a scene or even several and it will draw you in – but it loses its direction as a whole.

Will Snell

Sharper is released on Apple TV+ on 17^th February 2023.

Watch the trailer for Sharper here: