*Spoiler* (I tried so hard not to...but...)

Everything just needs to get back to how it was before.

Cillian Murphy is brilliant. If you love psychological thrillers, true psychological thrillers, this is the film for you! LOVED it. Great story, tight tight tight story. No condescending explanations or monologues or voice overs.

Set in the 1950s, the slow and subtle revelation of one man’s traumatic struggle unfolds among kind, caring, but wholly inept citizens of a small town called Peacock, Nebraska, population 800. A year after his mother dies, a train crashes, leaving a caboose planted firmly in his back yard and his whole world begins to unravel. Worse yet, the mayor and his wife want to use the caboose, with its sign to "re-elect Senator Wyatt" draped on the back, to gather a rally to redirect voters’ attention.

You see, John has a problem. Today we might be fooled into thinking it’s asperger’s. But the real psychological problem is far deeper than that.

He is adamant that everything just needs to get back to how it was before.

Nobody does creepy better than Cillian Murphy ("Batman Begins," "Dark Knight," "Inception") . . . and he plays John and Emma with shivering precision and believability (tag: "If he only knew what she was doing"). The rest of the A-list cast provided extraordinary performances, including an equally challenged supervisor, played by Bill Pullman ("Independence Day," "While You Were Sleeping"), the mayor (Keith Carradine of "Damages," "Crash") and his wife (the ever captivating Susan Sarandon), Graham Beckel, Ellen Page, and the strong, involved and kind sherif (Josh Lucas with killer dimples).

The cinematography clips and plays out shots that are pristinely composed, mirroring the character’s severe need for order, routine, and predictability. The severity of the setting of John’s house profoundly conveys the overpowering presence of a mother dead only a year but still haunting every move, every thought, every element of the house—reflected in the heavy lined curtains, the pervasive dark reds and earth tones throughout a dark and boldly furnished home, the tight shots on mysteriously prepared meals, clothes laid out for John each morning, and the notes of instructions signed "Emma." Heavy laden. And yet it is the feminine personality that will ultimately both eliminate and emancipate John Skillpa—the human being beyond the gender.

The film is reminiscent of a classic Hitchcockian thriller but with the style that goes beyond stereotypical conventions of similar tales. The story isn’t about what happened to him as a child, but how he navigates the crisis at hand. While the town is called "Peacock" as is the film, the word fits John’s particular dissociative identity disorder. According to the National Geographic online, "The term ‘peacock’ is commonly used to refer to birds of both sexes." This might be a stretch, but I also found it curious that the peacock’s tale feathers, when spread proudly (think election and rally in the back yard), appear to have eyes everywhere but they do not see.

Compelling. Heart-breaking. Natural. Simple but not easy. Deep without preaching, without condescension. I was tempted to doubt that a town would fail to catch on that one of their own was wholly psychotic, but then names and images of a disturbingly long list of serial killers began flashing in my mind. If I say more I will betray the great initial surprise and the iconic nods yet fresh treatment of such a great story pattern.

So much of the story is familiar. Yet there are surprises and unexpected turns and revelations—subtle, exquisitely crafted depictions of a quintessential internal conflict. More is done with gestures and expressions than with words. Masterful little story. The only real problem I had with the story was its ending. The better ending for the story, I think, was the alternative ending that the dvd includes in the special features section.

Everything just needs to get back to how it was before. Before a mother abused her tiny son. Before a mother rigidly controlled every aspect of her son’s world. Before a mother made it necessary for her son to split his sensibilities in order to survive. The train wreck brings everything to a moment of imminent confrontation—the old ways of coping are no longer working for John. Or Emma.