First Snow (DVD)

Jimmy-O Sparks (Guy Pearce) is a fast-talker who’s slowed down by fate… and a broken-down car… in First Snow, the directorial debut of Superman Returns screenwriter Mark Fergus. As the traveling salesman stops in a small New Mexico town to soothe his beater’s aching engine, he encounters another traveling salesman – a fortune-teller (J.K. Simmons) working out of a camper. When the tarot cards are dealt and Jimmy-O is delivered a karmic blow, a strange chain of events is thrown into motion.

Not unlike other mind-thrillers such as Memento (also starring Pearce), Déjà vu, or Premonition, First Snow brings up the question of fate. Is your future what you make of it, or does destiny truly have an unveering path of its own?

At first, Jimmy-O pooh-poohs the idea that he won’t live to see the end of the first snow, but when the weather gets chilly, he begins to sweat it. He decides to err on the side of caution: If it’s fate, then he’d better be a good boy – as the barometer dips, he tries to put his affairs in order.

He pays more attention to his girlfriend (Piper Parabo); he treats his employee (Jay Hernandez) with some respect; he tries to mend fences with his estranged old friend (Shea Whigham) who was just released from prison.

Most importantly, he reaches out once again to the enigmatic necromancer – he must know: Is it true? Is it really true that he’s going to die so young? The answers are vague, leaving Jimmy-O more shaken than ever. He’s already been suppressing his own demons from the past, but now they will be impossible to avoid.

While this stylistic indie is not a nonstop action fest, I believe that fans of more subtle, cerebral genre films will appreciate First Snow’s quiet, slow-burn suspense. Pearce, while he does have incredible range and could conceivably play any kind of character, excels at this sort of soul-scorched everyman. The fact that he’s drop-dead gorgeous doesn’t hurt the viewing experience, but it doesn’t get in the way of it, either. This is Pearce’s show, but the supporting cast is up to the task in ably underscoring Jimmy-O’s paranoiac inner journey.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson