Is it possible to pay homage to David Mamet without invoking his famous dialogue? A consistently entertaining thriller that steals as shamelessly from Mamet’s stories as some of the characters in them, the new Apple TV+ film Sharper ironically highlights what it’s most lacking in its own title. The psychological thriller is cleverly constructed and has more style than entire seasons of streaming ‘content’ combined, but without the Mamet Speak, most of its socio-political angst feels rather stale.
Although what it can’t achieve through dialogue — “You’re not my mom, mom,” a character says at one point — it more than makes up for with a fun backwards structure; what would have been the third act in any other movie comes at the start of this one. But Sharper overplays its hand with a last-minute coda that sucks the air out of the entire thing. It’s the sort of tacked-on ending that betrays a lack of confidence, which feels odd, considering the swagger with which the movie was actually unfolding.
In some ways, it’s a lot like The Menu — another recent thriller that attempted to eat-the-rich by taking the startlingly unoriginal stance about the wealth-gap. Incidentally, both The Menu and Sharper are directed by British men who’ve earned serious clout in recent years through their work on massively popular TV shows.
Best known for his work on some memorable episodes of The Crown, Sherlock, and most recently Andor, Benjamin Caron makes Sharper soar on pure style alone. Shot by Charlotte Bruus Christensen on grainy film stock, Sharper’s general air of classiness instantly sets it apart from the rest. In this age of cheap algorithm-generated Netflix entertainment, Sharper occasionally looks like an Audrey Hepburn movie from the 1960s.
One can imagine Hepburn playing the Julianne Moore character here. Easily the most popular star of the ensemble, Moore shows up nearly an hour into the movie, by when you’re already attuned to its wavelength. Sebastian Stan ostensibly plays the lead, but his oily character is only introduced after a 20-minute opening ‘chapter’ — there are four in total.
Unlike the rest of the movie, which is a straight psychological thriller, the opening segment resembles a Woody Allen romantic-drama. This is where we’re introduced to Justice Smith’s Tom, the soft-spoken proprietor of a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Busy dealing with zero customers one evening, Tom is awoken from his reverie by a young woman named Sandra. After initially turning down his tender advances, she agrees to take him up on his offer of ramen at a neighbourhood Japanese restaurant. The meet-cute out of the way, Tom and Sandra embark on a dreamy romance that is occasionally interrupted by bursts of menace. The movie transitions into something else entirely after this opening segment, as we’re pulled into a web of lies and deceit.
It’s difficult to discuss Sharper without dissecting the ingenuous mechanics of its plot, but revealing anything else would be unfair. “Sharper unfolds within the secrets of New York City, from the penthouses of Fifth Avenue to the shadowy corners of Queens. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned upside down when nothing is as it seems,” reads Apple’s deliberately vague description. It tells you nothing about anything. In fact, this logline almost does a disservice to what is a genuinely unusual film, populated by characters that could teach Sukesh Chandrashekhar a lesson or two about con-artistry.
It’s unfortunate that Apple keeps forgetting that it’s a full-fledged streaming platform with excellent titles that require actual promotion, instead of a low-energy jerk of the neck in the direction of its app. Sharper is a rarity these days — a real movie with real characters and a real personality. More people should’ve been aware of it.
Sharper
Director – Benjamin Caron
Cast – Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, Justice Smith, Briana Middleton, John Lithgow
Rating – 4/5
