I'd heard a couple of good things about this movie, so when Inland Empire left Dallas after only one weekend, this was our fall back choice for a film this weekend.

First Snow tells the tale of Jimmy Starks, a salesman on the verge of what he hopes will be his big break.  Stuck for an afternoon on a desert highway because of car trouble, on a whim he has a fortune teller read his future.  The reading ends when the fortune teller gives Jimmy his money back and abruptly ends the session.

Returning to his home in Albuquerque, Jimmy notices that the few predictions he did hear have come true, and he begins to fear that the fortune teller saw something perilous in his future.  This possibility, and a subsequent confrontation with the fortune teller, leave him shaken.  Is his life about to end?

This hypersensitivity to the fragility of human life causes Jimmy's world to begin to crumble, and brings focus on all his personal secrets and internal battles of conscience.  The mere knowledge that he could die at any moment causes him to dig the holes of his life deeper.  Watching for all the different ways you can die makes you realize how many of them are out there waiting for you.

The question First Snow attempts to answer, whether it is a curse or a blessing to know your death is approaching, is never successfully explored.  Guy Pearce is a tremendous actor (see  Priscilla Queen of the Desert or Memento as examples) but his character feels either one-dimensional or, more accurately, non-dimensional.  I never developed any feelings for him one way or the other.  Whether he lived or died was unimportant to me.  In fact, I felt nothing for ANY of the characters, except some sympathy for the position of the fortune teller (J.K. Simmons).

I can't say the movie was unenjoyable, but the ride could be compared to one of the long, empty roads Jimmy drives in his travels, and the conclusion was rather obvious and unsatisfying.  Still, I would give it a strong C+ or a weak B-.