Speaks to metaphysical mysteries best left unsolved.
First Snow (2007)
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Reviews Counted:71
Fresh:41
Rotten:30
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: In First Snow, an interesting premise gives way to a slow and tedious noir that adds little to the genre.
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Jimmy (Guy Pearce) is a smooth-talking salesman who finds himself making a detour after his car breaks down on a desert highway. To pass the time, he pays a visit to a local palm reader, Vacaro... Jimmy (Guy Pearce) is a smooth-talking salesman who finds himself making a detour after his car breaks down on a desert highway. To pass the time, he pays a visit to a local palm reader, Vacaro (J.K. Simmons). Vacaro makes a few positive predictions for him, but then appears deeply disturbed by a vision. Jimmy demands to know what he saw, but Vacaro refuses to tell him, and won't even accept payment for the reading. A few days later, Jimmy becomes uneasy when various predictions begin to come true. He returns to Vacaro and begs to know what is in store for him. Vacaro admits that, yes, Jimmy's days are numbered, and he is to meet his fate--whatever it may be-- upon the first snowfall. The news causes Jimmy to descend into paranoia and fear, and he begins to behave irrationally--endangering both his job and his relationship with his girlfriend (Piper Perabo).What tragedy is about to befall him? Should he worry about his heart murmur? The threats from a disgruntled ex-employee? Or his ex-best friend, a convicted felon, who has recently come back to town? He turns his life inside out, racing to alter his destiny before the first snow. Guy Pearce gives his usual electric performance, perfectly capturing Jimmy's slick egotism, and later, his wild-eyed fear. His puzzle-like quest for the truth combined with the film's noir-style is at times reminiscent of MEMENTO, though the pace is a bit slower, and the plot a bit clunkier. But the film does still manage to pose some intriguing questions about the idea of fate, and the notion of each life being on a pre-destined path. Like MEMENTO, FIRST SNOW will leave viewers scratching their heads in wonder, if not feeling more than a little spooked. [More]
Starring: Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner, J.K. Simmons
Starring: Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner, J.K. Simmons, Shea Whigham, Rick Gonzalez, Jackie Burroughs, Adam Scott
Director: Mark Fergus, Bob Yari
Director: Mark Fergus
Screenwriter: Hawk Ostby, Mark Fergus
Director: Bob Yari
Producer: Sean Furst, Bryan Furst, Tom Lassally, Robyn Meisinger
Composer: Cliff Martinez
Studio: Yari Film Group
Reviews for First Snow
"First Snow" has the makings of a complex psychological thriller, but it gets lost in moody atmospherics and an incomplete script.
Brings little new to the genre apart from another outstanding performance by Pearce.
First Snow keeps audiences guessing - not necessarily about how the film will end but what path things will take to get there.
Fate plays havoc with a salesman's existence in [this] bleak psychological thriller about life and death in the New Mexico desert.
First Snow is an auspicious directorial debut for Mark Fergus. It will be interesting to see what he does next.
The subdued ending might disappoint those hoping for a more lively denouement, but really, it seems just right for a tale as chilly as this one.
A psychological thriller with the message that knowing about your impending death has a way of focusing your life and making everything supercharged with meaning.
Fergus is blessed with a cast who can duck-and-weave with his shabby material.
Seeing where the road leads, audiences will be forgiven for asking their own existential question: 'Is that all there is?'
torpid where it should be tense, dull where it should be sharp, and so caught up with its big themes that it forgets to give them a compelling stage on which to play out
Like a first snow, Mark Fergus's psychological thriller is unpredictable, but doesn't quite stick.
Guy Pearce is two for two in 2007 playing American users whose actions come back to haunt them.
A fresh and surprisingly effective character-driven thriller featuring Guy Pearce in one of his strongest roles since Memento.
Scene for scene, Guy Pearce's performance opens up the movie's mostly regular ruminations on fate and free will.
The film has some of the bleak inevitability of Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, but without the compelling characters and oddball twists.
First Snow is essentially a short story with a metaphysical twist, but Pearce puts his fears more up front than any actor I can think of. He keeps you poked and prodded with anxiety.
A thoughtful, but tense, meditation on whether the knowledge of your impending demise would be a curse or a gift.
First rate, incredibly intense and unrelenting thriller guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.
It's quite admirable of Guy Pearce to try and eschew a Hollywood career, [but] if he keeps making films like First Snow...
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