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Weekend Peep Plus: First Snow

Fri., Mar. 23, 2007 3:58 PM PDT by Caroline Kepnes

Yari Film Group/Freestyle Releasing

The poster for First Snow is deep, man. Guy Pearce stands amid a white, snowy landscape, looking intense. The imagery conjures up opaque, noncommercial think pieces, like that movie where Matt Damon and Casey Affleck walked around the desert talking.

No, no, no.

First Snow is an intense psychological thriller. The poster should be a close-up shot of Pearce with his hair slicked back and his sunglasses on, grinning, not realizing that someone is in the foreground about to swing an ax over his head. Does that sound like a movie you'd want to see? Yeah, I thought so.

Here are five reasons to take a leap of faith, forgive the misfired marketing and go see Snow.

1. Guy Is Mr. Not-an-A-Hole: The Memento man is in almost every scene of this movie. He worked his ass off and he does so much: Brandish a gun—check. Romance Piper Perabo—check. Run his hands through his mullet and contemplate his mortality—check. Yet cowriter Hawk Ostby says he demanded no frills. "I don't think this movie could have been made without somebody like Guy," he tells me. "He came there and he had no star bones. We offered him a chauffeur and he said, 'No, just give me a car. I don't need any of that.' He worked harder than anybody, in 110 degrees."

2. The Guys Who Made This Wrote Children of Men: And that was above par, right? (Am kidding. Men was amazing.) Yes, Ostby and writer-director Mark Fergus bring the same sharp dialogue and thought-provoking story twists to Snow. Right now they're busy on the set of Iron Man, but I'll tell you more about how that's going next week.

Yari Film Group/Freestyle Releasing

3. William Fichtner = Comic Relief Genius: How good is he? Well, here's the deal. Fichtner (you know him from Prison Break, maybe?) plays a somewhat sleazy salesman, wears the tie that probably clips on, eyes every waitress within a 20-foot radius. The movie is really dark, and when he comes onscreen your muscles loosen because you know you'll laugh. The best part? Hawk and Mark didn't even write the part that way. Fichtner brought all that to the character on his own. Nice job, Bill.

4. The Native-American Psychic Doesn't Look Like a Long-Haired Refugee from a Brady Bunch Grand Canyon Episode: Thank you, Mark and Hawk. Avoidance of cinematic clichés is so very much appreciated.

5. The Last Five Minutes: Don't worry, I won't ruin it for you. But it seems like so many movies I see get me revved up, but when the lights come up, I'm like, Really, that's it? If you don't walk out of Snow scratching your head and replaying the last few scenes, gimme a call. And I'll buy you some popcorn.