First Snow

A small-time New Mexico salesman (Guy Pearce), passing time with a fortune teller (J.K. Simmons) while his car’s in the shop, is told that he’ll have an early death, “around the time of the first snow.” The news sends him into a paranoid frenzy of wondering who might want to kill him, focusing on an ex-pal just out of prison. The high-concept premise of the script by Hawk Ostby and director Mark Fergus holds our interest for the opening scenes, and Pearce’s haggard, intense performance maintains it a while longer, but the interest dissipates pretty quickly and the movie becomes a dreary plod through the salesman’s uneasy (last?) days. The picture’s greasy, squalid look (designed by Devorah Herbert, photographed by Eric Alan Edwards) is another turn-off. This one won’t do much for New Mexico tourism.