Wound tight and cocky, Jimmy Starks is a smooth-talking salesman certain he's
on the verge of a big break. Even when his car stalls in the middle of nowhere, a
roadside soothsayer assures him a windfall is on its way. But although Jimmy
should be happy when his boss suddenly agrees to financially back his business
venture, he starts to become paranoid instead. As his girlfriend Deirdre and his
best friend/ business partner Ed watch him slowly come unwound, Jimmy
wonders if a past betrayal of his friend, newly paroled Vince, could be
catching up to him. And, as the weather turns cold, Jimmy can't help
but fear the mysterious seer's other prediction... that they'll be no
tomorrow after the first snow.
This taut little thriller, directed by first-timer Mark Fergus, is a real gripper with
intelligence to spare and some seriously powerful stuff. The protagonist/
anti-hero, Jimmy Starks (Guy Pearce in a role that hauntingly echoes his work
in "Memento"), is a salesman/con man who easily slides in and out of legit
selling and shady conning. Pearce carries this off beautifully, and is ably
abetted in his downward spiraling tale by J.K. Simmons as Vaccaro, the
strangely prescient soothsayer, William Fichtner as Jimmy's friend Ed,
and some really great unknown actors in other supporting roles,
principally the actor playing Jimmy's boss, who will hopefully go
on to do more work on film (he's terrific).