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FIRST SNOW
(Review)
Jimmy Sparks (Guy Pearce) is a salesman who’s always had a “gift for the bullsh*t,” a man whose worldview filters each and every interaction he has into a transaction. Relationships become matters of commerce, and his gift for the gab allows him to move through life unperturbed by the past and the mistakes he may have committed there. A chance encounter with fortune teller Vacaro (J.K. Simmons) however, forces Jimmy to confront his life and the apparently inevitable fate that awaits him with the coming of the first snow.
Understandably, Sparks is skeptical at first, viewing Vacaro’s gift as an act, but particular details convince him that the prediction is a real one. Hearing the rest of it from the “trailer park Kreskin” doesn’t really soothe the anxiety though, and perhaps, even exacerbates the situation.
The journey Sparks takes, from glib smooth talker to assenting believer (passing through paranoid obsessive along the way) is fascinating to watch, helped along tremendously by Pearce’s acting skills.
And Simmons in the small but pivotal role of Vacaro is a strong, yet haunted man, light years away from the gruff and comedic J. Jonah Jameson (from the Spider-Man franchise), arguably the character audiences know him best for.
Co-written and directed by Mark Fergus (who also co-wrote Alfonso Cuaron’s excellent Children of Men*), First Snow is an involving thriller that places the notion of predestination at its very center. Set against the desolate vistas of New Mexico (evocatively photographed by Eric Alan Edwards, cinematographer on Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, and To Die For), it artfully examines the idea of surrendering to fate in a way that Mennan Yapo’s Premonition could only dream of. (Premonition reviewed here: Archive March 2007.)
It’s an interesting variation of the scenario Hollywood seems enamored with, in films like Last Holiday and Life Or Something Like It, where the main character is informed of his or her impending demise and must deal with the unwanted knowledge. (Also, see Stranger Than Fiction, reviewed here: Archive March 2007.)
Here, it is given the psychological suspense treatment, and used as a galvanizing force in a quiet thriller that eschews car chases and bombastic set pieces for involved character moments as we view a man who must come face to face with his past, and ready himself for the end which awaits us all.
For a psychological thriller starring Guy Pearce, First Snow certainly isn’t Memento. It is however, an interesting little gem worthy of your attention.
* Fergus’s co-writer on both Children of Men and First Snow is Hawk Ostby. Their next scripting collaborations: Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and John Carter of Mars.
(First Snow OS courtesy of wildaboutmovies.com.)
Jimmy Sparks (Guy Pearce) is a salesman who’s always had a “gift for the bullsh*t,” a man whose worldview filters each and every interaction he has into a transaction. Relationships become matters of commerce, and his gift for the gab allows him to move through life unperturbed by the past and the mistakes he may have committed there. A chance encounter with fortune teller Vacaro (J.K. Simmons) however, forces Jimmy to confront his life and the apparently inevitable fate that awaits him with the coming of the first snow.
Understandably, Sparks is skeptical at first, viewing Vacaro’s gift as an act, but particular details convince him that the prediction is a real one. Hearing the rest of it from the “trailer park Kreskin” doesn’t really soothe the anxiety though, and perhaps, even exacerbates the situation.
The journey Sparks takes, from glib smooth talker to assenting believer (passing through paranoid obsessive along the way) is fascinating to watch, helped along tremendously by Pearce’s acting skills.
And Simmons in the small but pivotal role of Vacaro is a strong, yet haunted man, light years away from the gruff and comedic J. Jonah Jameson (from the Spider-Man franchise), arguably the character audiences know him best for.
Co-written and directed by Mark Fergus (who also co-wrote Alfonso Cuaron’s excellent Children of Men*), First Snow is an involving thriller that places the notion of predestination at its very center. Set against the desolate vistas of New Mexico (evocatively photographed by Eric Alan Edwards, cinematographer on Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, and To Die For), it artfully examines the idea of surrendering to fate in a way that Mennan Yapo’s Premonition could only dream of. (Premonition reviewed here: Archive March 2007.)
It’s an interesting variation of the scenario Hollywood seems enamored with, in films like Last Holiday and Life Or Something Like It, where the main character is informed of his or her impending demise and must deal with the unwanted knowledge. (Also, see Stranger Than Fiction, reviewed here: Archive March 2007.)
Here, it is given the psychological suspense treatment, and used as a galvanizing force in a quiet thriller that eschews car chases and bombastic set pieces for involved character moments as we view a man who must come face to face with his past, and ready himself for the end which awaits us all.
For a psychological thriller starring Guy Pearce, First Snow certainly isn’t Memento. It is however, an interesting little gem worthy of your attention.
* Fergus’s co-writer on both Children of Men and First Snow is Hawk Ostby. Their next scripting collaborations: Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and John Carter of Mars.
(First Snow OS courtesy of wildaboutmovies.com.)
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