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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.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, some violence and sexuality
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Mar 23, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $100,519
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
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Reviews for First Snow
Through it all, Pearce reminds us how good he can be in these obsessive parts.
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
For a movie concerned with such heady topics as fate, destiny, and mounting paranoia, it seems curiously reluctant to stick with the mystical.
"First Snow" has the makings of a complex psychological thriller, but it gets lost in moody atmospherics and an incomplete script.
It's a film of great promise, but loses dramatic circulation the longer it spends time chasing its own tail.
... this one foresees a bleak future for anyone fool enough to look into it.
Fergus is blessed with a cast who can duck-and-weave with his shabby material.
First Snow starts out with a compelling premise but melts all too quickly.
In spite of attempts to chew up the New Mexico scenery, Pearce and others, vehicles for the film's themes and ideas, can do no more than posture.
It's quite admirable of Guy Pearce to try and eschew a Hollywood career, [but] if he keeps making films like First Snow...
The film has some of the bleak inevitability of Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, but without the compelling characters and oddball twists.
A fate-obsessive film that would nearly register as existential were it not so resolutely low-key.
Like a first snow, Mark Fergus's psychological thriller is unpredictable, but doesn't quite stick.
Co-screenwriter/director Mark Fergus isn't able to build any palpable tension. And the fact that we're not really rooting for his protagonist to survive works against the material.
...the interest dissipates pretty quickly and the movie becomes a dreary plod...
Is it written somewhere that every indie quasi-noir must include a dripping faucet, ceiling fans, shadows of slatted blinds, and a traveling shot of highway lines?
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