FIRST SNOW
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
YARI FILM GROUP
Grade: C
Directed by: Mark Fergus
Written By: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
Cast: Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichner, J.K.
Simmons, Shea Whigham, Rick Gonzalez, Luce Rains, Adam
Scott, Jackie Burroughs
Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 2/21/07
Opens: March 23, 2007
There's an expression: Man plans, and God laughs, which those
of us who believe in fate accept, which is to say that our lives
are planned for us. We are not the masters of our fate, much as
we think we are. I don't believe this, you don't believe this,
existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre do not believe this, and
Jimmy Starks does not accept this. Jimmy who? Jimmy Starks
(Guy Pearce) is a character created by Mark Fergus and Hawk
Ostby, scripters of "First Snow," directed by Fergus, who may or
may not think that he has come up with something with
Hitchcockian undertones or overtones or simply tones. He has
not, nor has Guy Pearce benefitted from anything resembling
the imagination of Christopher Nolan's 2001 humdinger,
"Memento," wherein he plays a man with short-term memory
loss, trying to keep his life in order while avenging his wife's
murder. In that inventive brain-teaser, we in the audience
wonder whether he is being helped or manipulated by the
people around him, while in "First Snow," we can't be blamed
for waiting for the first snow to fall so that Pearce's character
can meet his fate.
It's not that Jimmy Starks is an especially bad guy who is made
sympathetic by Pearce's charm; in fact, we're supposed to
believe that he's a bad guy who, thanks to the grace of the
English actor who had emigrated to Australia, engages our good
will. But while he apparently betrayed his good friend, Vincent
(Shea Whigham), sending him to jail, it's difficult even to see
exactly for what, since at worst Starks is just a slick salesman of
flooring and classic jukeboxes out to make a buck selling
honest products.
"First Snow," told in a linear fashion (unlike "Memento"), finds
Starks stranded in a god-forsaken New Mexico town, car broken
down, visiting a local fortune teller, Vacaro (J.K. Simmons) just
to kill time. Vacaro, apparently more honest than Starks could
ever believe, pulls back as though stunned by 1000 volts of
electricity, returning Starks's money, only later informing his
customer that his fate is to die at the first snowfall. The rest of
the story involves Starks' becoming increasing paranoid,
expecting his end to come at the hands of the betrayed Vincent,
though Starks' genuine friend, Ed (William Fichtner) and
significant other, Deirdre (Piper Perabo), try to dissuade him
from what they consider his irrational fears.
Fichtner turns in an especially noteworthy performance as the
voice of reason (despite the unfortunate verity that the irrational
may prove accurate), and the interplays between Fichtner and
Pearce provide the most diverting dialogues of the movie.
Despite the occasional frissons, however, "First Snow" is
standard-issue drama with an off-the-wall climactic scene that
trashes all attempts at credibility.
Rated PG-13. 101 minutes 2007 by Harvey Karten
Member: NY Film Critics Online
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