Two people decided to get detailed horoscopes on me. Strangely, I never new what the results of those horoscopes were, and over time, I’ve decided I would rather not know someone’s predictions for my future. First Snow is about a man who learns that his life will be over at the time the first snow falls in his New Mexico town. But on a deeper level, the film is about responsibility for one’s actions. The audience is asked to consider not only what kind of choices does one make make when you are told you will live for a limited amount of time, but also, what kind of responsibility is held by the “fortune teller”.

Guy Pearce portrays the salesman who finds himself temporarily stranded at a roadside stop with a bar, a garage, and little else, when he gets a flat tire. With nothing to do until the car is repaired, he kills time by visiting an itinerant fortune teller working out of his trailer. The fortune teller, sad sack actor J. K. Simmons, mentions a couple of things that eventually come true, but he also responds to touching Pearce with spasms. The session is cut short, the money given back. Pearce returns to the fortune teller to get details of how his life will end. During the course of the film, Pearce looks to various events from the past, and attempts to create strategies to outrun his fate.

First Snow was directed by Mark Fergus. Fergus, along with co-writer Hawk Ostby, were among the several screenplay writers for Children of Men. This is a thought provoking film, one that is played out on an intimate scale with only a handful of actors in settings that are often empty. The emptiness of the sets and surroundings reinforces the idea of Pearce’s solitude. His characters is named Jimmy Starks, a variation on James Dean’s Jim Stark in Rebel without a Cause. In Fergus’ film, Starks tries to rebel against his fate. Even though the audience has a vague idea of how the film will end, there are several twists and turns that may catch the attentive viewer off-guard. First Snow is currently playing in select cities throughout the U.S. I recommend taking the opportunity to see this film in a theater if you can.