Intriguing but ultimately uneven film that has it's best moments when Guy Pearce and J K Simmons are on screen together. It does not work so much when they are not, which is the bigger part of the film of course.It is a bitty film and the biggest element against the film is the fact that, you don't care enough for Pearce's character.Not a bad film just very average.

From the look of the reviews here on IMDb, this movie obviously has its fans. I really didn't care for it at all, and I have been trying to think why some people find it so well done, and some find it completely boring. It is definitely well filmed. It looks good and establishes a consistent tone. So fans of indie drama will recognize some of what they like about those kinds of films. The flip side is that because the movie takes the time to show the little details and develop a mood, there will be those who find it too slow. I think the subject matter is also one of things that divides people about this movie. In the story, the main character meets a quirky mystic who predicts he will die soon. So you get some themes of fate and destiny, along with a little mysticism. Personally, I didn't find any of that interesting. I also thought that there wasn't much story to it: once he finds out he may die soon, it becomes a character study. Except nothing really memorable or interesting happens. I like Guy Pearce a lot, and I thought he did a good job with who the character was at the beginning. I would actually like to see Guy get to play another character like this, because I think he could really let loose with a slimy, self centered, Daniel Cleaver type of role. But it just felt like it didn't go anywhere. SPOILER: at the end of the movie, Guy's character avoids the death that we think is coming, and drives off. We are then told he died in a car accident off screen. So some viewers are sure to see that as a cheat. I liked Piper Perabo, but she didn't really get more than a couple minutes screen time. I really disliked the guy who played the fortune teller. I thought he was the worst thing about this movie. For me, he was just really goofy, and it makes it even more annoying that so many reviewers praise his hokey act as Oscar worthy. So, to sum up, it was nice to look at, but I only give it a four.

Does such a thing as Fate truly determine the course of our lives - or are human beings just naturally prone to look for patterns where none may actually exist? That is the metaphysical question raised by "First Snow," an extraordinarily well-made and engrossing psychological thriller starring Guy Pearce as a cynical traveling salesman whose life is turned upside down when a roadside fortuneteller (J.K. Simmons) predicts he will die before the first snow falls. Yet Jimmy Starks soon learns that being the target of such a dire forecast may not be an entirely bad thing, for it can, if used properly, serve to build character, liberate the soul, help one find inner peace and self-acceptance, and, ironically, give one a brand new lease on life (however short that life may turn out to be).Adding to Jimmy's problems is the sudden return into his life of an ex-business partner whom Jimmy sold up the river a few years back. Jimmy is suddenly forced to live his life on a two-way track: running from perceived threats while, at the same time, learning to embrace his Sword of Damacles fate.In this beautifully paced and exquisitely shot film, director Mark Fergus makes the high desert setting an integral part of the movie's otherworldly mood and tone. Fergus' screenplay - co-written with Hawk Ostby - is shot through with a tremendous sense of foreboding and menace, while Cliff Martinez' haunting score greatly enhances that effect.Pearce is riveting as a man who finds himself simultaneously contending with the wildly disparate feelings of fear, desperation, resignation and hope. No one plays these kinds of brooding characters better than Pearce and he is clearly at the top of his game here. He gets fine support from the likes of Rick Gonzalez, William Fichtner and Piper Perabo as the people Jimmy makes amends to as he prepares himself for his preordained date with destiny.Unfortunately, as with most films of this type, the buildup is ultimately more satisfying than the follow-through. Yet, even though the ending is a trifle flatfooted compared to the rest of the story, the movie, as a whole, is so rich in atmosphere and performance that you'll be glad you took the journey.

***SPOILERS*** Strange and haunting psychological drama involving traveling salesman Jimmy Starks, Guy Pearce, who comes apart after, what at first seemed like, a harmless reading from a roadside fortuneteller.On his way home Jimmy stops off at this rest stop on the highway when his car suddenly conks out. Waiting for his car to be fixed and after a stake & eggs dinner Jimmy spots this trailer that advertises telling one's future. Seeing the proprietor Vacaro, J.K Simmions, Jimmy gets a life reading from him that will soon change not only his fortunes, that were at the time at rock bottom, but his life as well! As it later turns out most of what Vacaro told Jimmy amazingly came to pass but the biggest mystery in his forecast didn't. Jimmy was told that the road he's traveling on will come to an abrupt end the moment the first snows fall! Not being able to make heads or tails of Vacaro's strange prediction Jimmy assumes that he'll die, or be killed, by the time winter comes!Becoming super paranoid Jimmy starts to suspect everyone he, as a smart a** wise guy, screwed all his life. At first Jimmy suspects his fellow salesman whom he took under his wing, and later screwed out of his job, Andy Lopez played by Nick Gonzalez. Andy in fact did, by admitting, send Jimmy a threatening letter with no return address of course which had Jimmy not only slug him but also threatened to have him arrested! It was later after Andy apologized Jimmy got the news that his former best friend Vincent McClore, Shea Whigham, had just been released, after serving six years,from prison. It was Vincent whom Jimmy screwed, like almost everyone else in the movie, years ago in a drug money laundering scheme that he ended up taking the rap for! Being of unsound mind with a violent temper to boot it became evident to Jimmy that Vincent was the person who'd fulfill Vacaro's prediction of his own demise!Like in the practice Voodoo it was up to Jimmy, in believing it, to make Vacaro's prediction of his strange road to nowhere to come true. Instead of forgetting about it Jimmy went out of his way to see to it that his, in Jimmy's mind, soon to be death will inevitably happen. The fact that Vacaro was very unambiguous in what was going to happen to Jimmy-he'll run out of highway at the first snow-but Jimmy seemed to take it all the wrong, and worst, way!***SPOILER ALERT*** As it turned out Jimmy's past, as a stool pigeon and rat-fink, did catch up with him in what he did to his then best friend and partner in crime Vincent McClore. All this, together with Vacaro's mystifying prediction, put everything into motion for the films totally unsuspected and nail-biting climax!