Far more here than meets the eye

"Murder by Numbers" is a fascinating piece of work, beautifully realized by Barbet Schroeder, who is incapable of delivering a bad movie. Here, he manages to evoke with great subtlety the warped dynamic between two boys who -=- SPOILER ALERT -=- are unable to express their feelings of love for each other so instead they indulge in an act of hate to bind themselves in intimacy. -=- END OF SPOILER.

Michael Pitt (who was incredible as Tommy Gnosis in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch") and the also-amazing Ryan Gosling infuse their scenes with the perfect undercurrent of sexual tension under Schoeder's shrewd direction, and Sandra Bullock has never been more nuanced as well. Very satisfying in all aspects and full of (believable and plot-enhancing) twists and turns until the very end.