First Snow (2006)

The facts are perfectly applicable to real life. And there is a really serious content in its plot.Sometimes it happens in our daily lives, or when we have to take a decision, life shows us some clues that we can follow: fortuitous event, strange coincidences...But often we are not sufficiently aware of these signals, or we just don't believe in it. Later on, we realize that this could have helped us or offer us something new to our lives. And then...our problems keeps unresolved.Cliff Martinez soundtrack is amazing, as well as the filmmaking.8/10

FIRST SNOW involves a trade off. The action is slow, but there is a fairly compelling narrative. The story involves a brash young salesman who engages the services of a truck stop fortune teller, and finds that his life is nearly over. He's safe only until the first snow. Jimmy, played by Guy Pearce, must plan a course of action to determine the veracity of the prediction, and then act on his finding. FIRST SNOW creates a visual mood, and takes its' own sweet time to unfold. The film is a psychological thriller with the feel of a noirish foreign film. The two writers on this project collaborated on the far superior film, CHILDREN OF MEN, but FIRST SNOW makes a clever attempt to resolve the following conundrum. Our fate lies on whatever road we decide to take, yet nothing makes the gods laugh harder than when Man attempts to control his destiny. Guy Pearce's MEMENTO is a much better examination of the effect of predetermined events, but FIRST SNOW is certainly worth a look.

"First Snow" has an intriguing beginning. A traveling salesman has his fortune told by an old man, who's predictions turn out to be amazingly correct. From this point on the movie plays out like a bloated "Twilight Zone" episode. I mean nothing but car trips, phone calls and paranoia. William Fichtner gives his usual interesting performance, but Guy Pierce is anything but a sympathetic character, disregarding other people's well being for the sake of his own paranoia. The ending is especially weak, with absolutely no payoff for the long suffering audience. Do yourself a big favor and avoid this one. Not recommended. - MERK

I found First Snow to be a disappointing film. I saw a few trailers for the movie and perhaps I was anticipating something far greater than the end result. I'm not saying the movies plot wasn't interesting. It did holdmy attention; It had great scenes and the whole concept of a person knowing he was going to die at a certain time is a suspenseful way to deliver a story. I think maybe it could have been told differently. It started off with a guy (a real hustler) stranded in a New Mexico service station waiting for his car to be fixed. He accidentally (or was it fate) stumbled upon a fortune teller who told him bad things were going to happen to him. The main character (Guy Pearce) laughed it off, but then a few of his other predictions that seemed way out there came true. This caused a lot of upset and for the next few weeks of the story, Guy Pearce slowly unraveled. It finally came to light (after another visit to the fortune teller) that he would meet his tragic end upon the "First Snow". Hence, the name. The remainder of the movie became a pathetic attempt for him to find out why he was going to die, including becoming suspicious of a life long friend that he betrayed, who had just recently gotten out of prison.