Username Password Remember me Forgot password?

Wanna join? Sign up

Find movies you'll love

All Reviews for The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

The Heart is Deceitful Above Al ...
by pippin06 in Reel Thoughts

lost interest.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"This is a Spout Mavens review (#2). For more information, read here. This film is based on a memoir by J. T. LeRoy. Except that J. T. LeRoy was discovered to be a pen name for writer Laura Albert, and the book billed as a memoir was actually an elaborately written hoax (complete with a public persona posing as transsexual LeRoy), and Asia Argento directed and starred in the adaptation of the hoax to screen. Asia plays Sarah, an unstable, single mother, who appears to derive her income from prostitution and who gave up her child, Jeremiah (initially played by Jimmy Bennett), to foster care. The film opens as Jeremiah is being dropped off to his mother by his foster parents, as he cries and pleads for them not to do so. Jeremiah has grown to love his foster parents, and Sarah is nothing but a stranger to him. While Jeremiah rails against his mother's would-be affections, she essentially emotionally abuses him into trusting her, telling him that his foster parents never loved hi ... " [More]

Re:Best Movie Lists -- DVD give ...
by Dr_Gor in Filmgaming

hasn't rated it.

"[quote user="spout"] Win five DVDs from indie studio Palm Pictures.It's easy: Reply to this thread with one of your Spout lists. Choose a list you like. "Want to see it" lists serve a purpose, but let's face it -- nobody reads them for fun. Some good list examples are Man-made Disasters, Top 5 Movies about Friendship, or Post-Collegiate Existential Dilemmas. Never made a list before? Click the "Add to lists" link at the top of this page. There you can title a list, then add movies to it by clicking the "Add to lists" link on the movie pages. Send any questions about building lists to all@spout.com. Check back here on 1/16 to see if you've won! The DVDs 1. 13 Tzameti - Watch the trailer. A young man is caught in a perverse gambling match, and he'll need more than luck to survive. It's on Leeroy's list The Secret Society. 2. Clean - Watch the trailer. When a TV host's husband OD's, she attempts to escape her own addiction. It's on puhnner's list See this one. 3. Wondrous Oblivion - ... " [More]

Re:Best Movie Lists -- DVD give ...
by laurakewl in Filmgaming

hasn't rated it.

Best Movie Lists -- DVD giveaway
by spout in Filmgaming

hasn't rated it.

"Want to win five DVD's? It's easy: Reply to this thread with one of your Spout lists. Choose a list you like. "Want to see it" lists serve a purpose, but let's face it -- nobody reads them for fun. Some good list examples are Man-made Disasters, Top 5 Movies about Friendship, or Post-Collegiate Existential Dilemmas. Never made a list before? Click the "Add to lists" link at the top of this page. There you can title a list, then add movies to it by clicking the "Add to lists" link on the movie pages. Send any questions about building lists to all@spout.com. Check back here on 1/16 to see if you've won! The DVDs 1. 13 Tzameti - Watch the trailer. A young man is caught in a perverse gambling match, and he'll need more than luck to survive. It's on Leeroy's list The Secret Society. 2. Clean - Watch the trailer. When a TV host's husband OD's, she attempts to escape her own addiction. It's on puhnner's list See this one. 3. Wondrous Oblivion - Watch the trailer. A coming-of-age story ... " [More]

[REVIEW] The shaky tale of a lo ...
by tadiv in tadiv Blog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Fox Searchlight Pictures, in association with Saturn Films and Protozoa Pictures, presents The Wrestler, a film by Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream). The screenplay was written by Robert D. Siegel with cinematography by Maryse Alberti (Taxi to the Dark Side). The Wrestler stars Mickey Rourke in the title role with Marisa Tomei in the supporting female role. Evan Rachel Wood plays Stephanie, Rourke's estranged daughter. This film is not yet rated, however the content clearly merits an MPAA “R” rating for language, sexual situations, adult situations, and drug use. This picture runs 109 minutes. Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Rourke) is a professional wrestler, once at the top of the profession, who is now aging and struggling to hang on to the one thing he knows. His love interest, played by Marisa Tomei, is Cassidy who is a dancer at a local strip club. The Wrestler is a ho-hum story that is poorly executed as a film. While watching The Heart ... " [More]

Review of The Heart is Deceitfu ...
by leeroy711 in leeroy711 Blog

lost interest.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"** Stars out of 5 Directed by: Asia Argento Starring: Asia Argento, Peter Fonda, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse, Running Time: 97 minutes Rated: R Released: 2004 Language: English Review: We begin this story with a young Jeremiah being gleefully reunited with his estranged biological mother after years in foster care… Well, maybe gleefully is a bit of a strong term. How about cautiously content... No, I’m not quite there yet am I? Ok, he was terrified, and with good reason as we find out in the next 97 minutes of this feature directed by and starring Asia Argento. You see, unfortunately for Jeremiah, his mom makes Courtney Love look like mother of the year. She controls him with a cocktail of mental, sexual, physical and substance abuse. His pitiful fate is pretty much sealed. There were a few things I liked about this movie. As disturbing and disgusting some of the scenes were, I was actually suspecting much worse having read some of the oth ... " [More]

The Heart and the Film is Most ...
by belladonna2054 in belladonna2054 Blog

liked it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) was a movie based on the bestseller "biography" that was written by J. T. Leroy. The book was based on Leroy's traumatic childhood of living in and out of foster homes and with his unstable mother. But prior to the film's release, it was discovered that the author himself never existed. Though the book was entirely fiction, it was made into a great film. Directed by and stars Asia Argento as Sarah, Jeremiah’s drug crazed mother. We first see Jeremiah (at age 7 played by Jimmy Bennett), taken away from his foster parents who tried to adopt him, but were denied by his mother. Before Jeremiah knows it, he is given back to Sarah. It becomes clear that something is not quite right with her. The apartment that she lives in is a wreck: very little furniture, no dishes and little food. Jeremiah, not unexpected, is very upset and is in a state of denial of it all. He does not want to be there, he does not believe that the woman h ... " [More]

Innocence Does Not Come Undone
by belladonna2054 in belladonna2054 Blog

liked it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Mauro (played by Michel Joelsas) is like all ten-year-olds. He loves his parents, his friends, but most of all soccer. However innocence is only granted to the children of Brazil in 1970. Unbeknownst to Mauro, his parents are in trouble. They all quickly pack their things and take Mauro to his grandfather’s place. His parents continue to say that they are only ‘going on vacation’ and they should return soon. When Mauro asks when they would return, they say they will return by the World Cup. This sets the stage for Cao Hamburger’s The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2007). 1970 is a tumultuous year in Brazil. The political climate is changing with a dictatorship taking over which creates a militant state for those who are opposed to the new regime. Mauro, left in care of his grandfather, Motel (Paulo Autran), in a Jewish town of Sao Paulo or so they thought. He waits for hours until Motel’s neighbor, Shlomo (Germano Haiut) comes home and f ... " [More]

Hmm...
by Smooth_J in Smooth_J Blog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"The most difficult part for me in actually writing a critique of this movie is figuring out whether or not I actually liked the film. There were surefire moments of brilliance, but there were also long, disturbing stretches where I was tempted to turn the movie off. As mentioned by almost every other review of the film I've read, this movie explores all sorts of depths of depravity and doesn't let up. It seems to have the most fixation upon how almost every sleaze-bag guy that Jeremiah's mother dates is also a closet pedophile. The film also doesn't shy away from the fact that Jeremiah's mother is not only participating in all sorts of debauchery herself, but also knowingly introducing Jeremiah to all of the drugs and alcohol that she consumes on a daily basis. I guess, in a way, this is really the main redeeming quality of the film: it doesn't shy away from anything, especially when it's bizarre and cringe-inducing. I don't think anyone can say that Asia Argento doesn't give a ... " [More]

Almost a brilliant train reck
by laraemeadows in laraemeadows Blog

is neutral about it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things tells the story of a small boy passed around from person to person but always haunted by his mother. There were a lot of aspects of this movie that resonated deeply with me because I had a similar upringing but strange visuals ruin any brilliance the movie may have reached. After being in a loving foster home for several years, Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse) is returned to the care of his narcissistic drug addicted mother. When he tries to return home, his mother, Sarah (Asia Argento), convinces him his foster parents don’t want him anymore. She also leads him to believe that if he were to return to his foster home, he’d end up dead. She leads him on an escapade through several moves, several boyfriends, a few husbands, and endless abuse. She goes as far as introducing him to drugs at a very young age. Jeremiah looses himself through time and begins to fall into his mother’s insanity. My big ... " [More]

The Good in All Things Is Lost
by slipofthetongue in SlipOfTheTongue Blog

lost interest.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Oh my. Some films are just too damned full of themselves. THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS is a bit too self-involved to know that it might have been an interesting movie. Make no mistake, it would NEVER have been a good time but this film can't even tell the difference between what it does well and what it's lousy at. And when I say "this film" I'm really pointing the finger at the director (Asia Argento, hipster daughter of accomplished Italian director Dario Argento). There are movies about depravity and scum-sucking no goodness that still manage to be a good time, or to inform, or dazzle but not this rudderless ship run aground as it drags bodies on the rocks of creative intent. This film is so busy with "edgy" grittiness that it leaves its own characters and story in the dust. Ultimately what it tells us over and over and over again is that just because a mother and son have a bond, it ain't necessarily a divine union. Raise your hands if you think there should ... " [More]

Spout Mavens Disc #9: The Heart ...
by rik_tod in The Cinema 4 Pylon: SpOutpost

is neutral about it.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Perhaps a movie can exist solely to make you glad your mom isn’t a goddamn whore.I’m sure director/lead actress Asia Argento had artier ambitions when she took on The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, a film version of a supposedly fictionalized account of a supposedly real author’s supposed childhood, than giving me warm fuzzies about me own dear mum. But in the end, after ninety-plus minutes of extremely horrid mothering, child rape after child rape, gender confusion and religious torture and brainwashing, I felt a deeply abiding satisfaction with my own personal upbringing. The worst moments in my childhood didn’t even come within miles of even the slightest suffering the young boy in this film faces. It even nudged me into calling my mom later that evening to catch up on things, and while the onslaught of lurid imagery captured within the film still flashed behind my eyes whilst I spoke to her, I was relieved to hear the voice of someone who would nev ... " [More]

What Heart?
by QFLW in QFLW Blog

disliked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"The Heart Is Deceitful Above All ThingsWritten & directed by Asia Argento, based on the novel by J. T. LeRoyMy heart sank when I pulled the DVD out of the envelope. Wasn't interested in watching this film, and my first instincts were correct. A horror story told erratically and clumsily, without any relief. Not the performances, not the writing, not the camera work.In hindsight I noticed that the kudos on the DVD sleeve are for the novel, not the film. But the film doesn't make me want to read the book. " [More]

The Heart is Lifeless, Cold, an ...
by solafekxela in solafekxela Blog

disliked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Italian filmmaker Dario Argento is considered the all time great horror maestro, with films like Suspiria and Inferno on his resume. HIs daughter, Asia Argento, is an aspiring young filmmaker and actress with a few films under her belt. Her latest, with a title as agonizingly interminable as the film itself, is a near-shameful entry into the oeuvre of her family. It’s torture porn meets melodrama meets senseless violence meets, well, porn. There is not one image in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things that did not disturb, annoy, or offend me. Based (loosely, I presume) on a short story by J.T. LeRoy, Argento’s film stars herself as an irresponsible teenage mother and Jimmy Bennett as Jeremiah, her seven-year-old son dragged from the comparatively heavenly foster home and thrust into a world of sexual and physical abuse. No film excites me more than one that sets out to toss countless disturbing images at my face for unidentifiable reasons. Schindler’s List po ... " [More]

Disturbing and Sadistic
by indieabby88 in Bloggish review blog

disliked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"It was hard for me to watch "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things." I don't usually take well to films about child abuse (for obvious reasons), but I was willing to give this one a shot. I shouldn't have.Asia Argento's directorial effort is based on the "autobiographical" novel by J.T. LeRoy, who is in fact not a real person, but a character devised by writer Laura Albert. It's the story of Jeremiah, a little boy taken from his foster home to live with his completely drug-addled and unfit mother, Sarah (Argento). After going through several boyfriends and one husband, who rapes Jeremiah after Sarah scarpers, the boy is left in the care of his strict Christian grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti). After three years living and preaching under their creepy but more stable care, Sarah takes Jeremiah back and pulls him with her on her fast journey to rock bottom.First of all, I have a hard time figuring out why any social worker would think ... " [More]

[REVIEW] And you thought you ha ...
by tadiv in tadiv Blog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Palm Pictures presents Asia Argento’s film adaptation of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. This picture stars Asia Argento as Sarah, Jimmy Bennett as young Jeremiah, and Cole and Dylan Sprouse trade off as the older Jeremiah. The cast includes smaller roles for Peter Fonda, Marilyn Manson, Winona Ryder, and Michael Pitt. The film runs 98 minutes. Jeremiah, taken at age 7 from a loving foster family that wanted to adopt him, is delivered by Social Services to his biological mother, Sarah. From this point forward, his life is one story of neglect and abuse after another as his mother drags him like a rag doll from one deadbeat lover to the next. The only break is a three-year time jump while Jeremiah lives with, and takes unknown abuse from, Sarah’s Christian Fundamentalist parents and the rest of the residents in their church-like home. This picture uses sets and/or locations that clearly depict the life of those in poverty in America. While some of the ... " [More]

Junky Princess : The Heart is D ...
by jlgdrd in Wicked Fun

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"It is rare that I feel so utterly and completely mortified, frustrated and disgusted by a film, despite its brilliance. After watching Asia Argento’s The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things and discovering the source material came from a literary figure who was fabricated, my initial response was, “What next?” The film itself is problematic and flawed enough without this additional layer of confusion trying to fob itself off as intrigue.After doing a bit of research I discovered that JT LeRoy’s novel : The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things , was actually written by Laura Albert, who cultivated the alias down to dressing her boyfriend’s half-sister, Savannah Knoop, as the teenage boy. Knoop then proceeded to make guest appearances at book releases and other promotional events. Albert claimed that the persona of JT was a “veil” that permitted her to write things she couldn’t as herself. Of course, novelists employ different narrators ... " [More]

The Heart is Deceitful Above al ...
by analogzombie in analogzombie Blog

lost interest.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"If there is any such thing as film royalty, then Asia Argento surely belongs in its ranks. Not the snobby, upper levels with the likes of Sophia Coppola or Nick Cassavetes, but the grittier, “cool kid” level. The offspring of Italian horror legend Dario Argento and some beautiful model, Asia Argento has just recently come into her own as acting and directing presence. She has been appearing in European television and low budget horror films for some time, but her turn in Romero’s Land of the Dead and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things mark the beginning of what will most likely become her trademark style.With Heart, Argento splits her time between acting and directing. This is a tall order for anyone. The film is based on the work of JT LeRoy and is suppose to be a biographical account of his tortured and turbulent youth. In reality JT LeRoy is a concoction of a New England couple hoping that the gimmick of a sexually confused white trash novelist would prop ... " [More]

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"‘The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things‘ is the eponymous title of the book by fictional author JT LeRoy and the movie adapted from it by actress, writer and director, Asia Agento, the daughter of Italian horror director Dario Argento. Based on the work of author JT LeRoy. LeRoy became something of an overnight sensation in 1997, after the publication of several stories and two novels, ‘Sarah’ (1999) and ‘The Heart is Deceitful of All Things’(1999). But JT LeRoy does not exist. Like James Frey’s ‘A Million Little Pieces‘, ‘Heart’ is a piece of fiction dreamed up by an author with an assumed identity, who sold her book as biography. In this case, JT LeRoy was allegedly a young man from West Virginia, the son of a negligent hooker, who somehow broke loose of his mother to peddle his ass throughout the South, before washing up in San Francisco to become the protege of writers Laura Albert and Geoffrey Knoop. That said ... " [More]

The Heart is Deceitful Above Al ...
by JimBell in JimBell Blog

disliked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"The good thing about sending a movie like The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things out to half a dozen Spout reviewers is that when they all think it’s a bad movie, you know you’ve got a bad movie. HairyLime is still probably trying to watch the movie a half hour at a time before he gives up caring about what happens to the characters. As BigJeffLebowski said, the film does “plumb the depths of depravity,” but it’s not clear what the message is. It struck Strangeframe the same way: “Why make this film?” If you are lucky enough to get the DVD in a jacket, the director Asia Argento explains. While we must always take writers’ and directors’ claim with a grain of salt, she says The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is “a testament to the immutable and invincible bond of love between mother and child.” But that bond may better be described as inscrutable or unfathomable, for, as TheWorkingDead asks, Why does Sarah want ... " [More]

The Heart is Deceitful Above Al ...
by TheWorkingDead in TheWorkingDead Blog

lost interest.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"It was with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that I put this weeks screener, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, into my DVD player and hit 'play.' My trepidation came from a few sources; since having a daughter three years ago, and because of my own experiences with an abusive step-dad, I find movies with child abuse difficult to watch. I had heard much about the extreme depths that this film goes to, had heard quite a bit about the source material, and was a bit nervous about how I would react to something that usually affects me so viscerally. On the flipside of that, I was also a bit nervous about the fact that Asia Argento had directed it. Argento's only previous full-length directorial effort was the vaguely autobiographical 'Scarlet Diva,' a film which promised the same soul-searing depths of raw, nasty emotion, yet delivered only mind(and ass) numbing boredom. Still, on the strength of that film, some shorts, and maybe her father's reputa ... " [More]

A Voyeuristic Car Wreck
by Demndiary in Demndiary Blog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Asia Argento's The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is dark and disturbing film. Not knowing Leroy's work, I can not comment on the accuracy to the book. It is not meant to be uplifting but has a strange attraction like voyeuristically watching a car wreck. The film is carried in the acting of both Sarah (Asia Argento) and Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett, Cole and Dylan Sprouse). Young Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennet) barely speaks but absorbs everything in a fearful way. Older Jeremiah (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) has lost the haunting fear in his eyes, and replaced it with a longing desire to belong. Sarah is manic and wild and bounces from lover to lover in her own haze. Between both of them there is a strange form of love. It is not healthly or wise, but it does exist. Another acting kudo must go to Peter Fonda as the Patriarch fundamentalist with his own long line of issues. Argento's filming style and screenplay bring the viewer to the same state as the character over and over agai ... " [More]

Feel Good Hit of the Summer
by HairyLime in HairyLime Blog

lost interest.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"(originally posted in the 'Spout Mavens' discussion board, but I think it was supposed to be posted here, so have copied it here)I'm not sure how I am expected to respond to this movie. I received it in the mail earlier in the week, and read on the outside of the package about how this was based on a book/memoir that was later exposed as a fraud. The description didn't encourage my interest much (it certainly doesn't sound like the 'feel good hit of the summer', that's for sure), but I gave it a try nonetheless. My first session lasted about a half an hour into the film. If I'm supposed to be horrified by the abuse this child endures, then it isn't working, because I've been warned ahead of time that it is a fabrication. Perhaps the actors and story will overcome that and draw me in. Not much luck there either. The 'mother' character does nothing but inspire incredulence alternating with revulsion, while the 'child' is one ... " [More]

The Heart Is Deceitful Above Al ...
by MovieBabe in MovieBabe Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"By Tricia Olszewski You’d have to be a heartless bastard to not get sucked into a story of a kid being pried away from his loving foster parents, the only family he’s ever known. And not just that, but being handed over to a lipstick-smeared, Courtney Love wreck of a woman—the kind who might wave a stuffed bunny furiously in front of her son’s face just before he’s loaded into the Social Services van. That’s the powerful first scene of writer-director Asia Argento’s The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. After it, your heartless bastardry will eventually assert itself—exactly when is probably a matter of tolerance. Can you make it all the way to the boy’s getting corporally punished in the name of the Lord by his tyrannical zealot of a grandfather? Or do you think you’ll bail when the kid starts drawing giant stick figures on the walls to the nontune of a Sonic Youth instrumental? The film was co-adapted by first-time ... " [More]

"Keep your eyes open and y ...
by BigJeffLebowski in BigJeffLebowski Blog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"As far as sex symbols go, few are willing to plumb the depths of depravity as fully and as frequently as Asia Argento. This is significant not only in that it opens her to a world of film roles at which other actress would likely scoff, but also because her magnetism infuses even her most deplorable characters with an intrinsic, unquantifiable duende that makes other characters’ attractions to them a little more explicable. No film I’ve seen of hers demonstrates this more definitively than The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, which she also co-wrote and directed from the faux autobiographical works of JT LeRoy. It is important that the film’s -- and the stories’ -- lack of authenticity be addressed in any critical assessment of the work. Argento begins her film with a close-up of what is presumably her personal copy of “The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things,” complete with marginalia and annotations. The audience is immediately aw ... " [More]

1 2 Next >>	1-25 of 32

Movies: Search movies; In theaters; Coming soon; New on DVD; Coming to DVD; Trailers; Downloads

People: Search people; Find friends; Mavens; What's a maven; Most active; Top bloggers; Top listers; Taggers

Groups: Search groups; Create a group; Genres; Discussions; Popular groups; List activity; Most movies; Most talkative

Reviews: Write a review; Spoutblog reviews; Community reviews; Maven reviews

Podcast: Subscribe

News: Lists; Hollywood; Classics; Indie; Interviews; Festivals

About us: Jobs; Advertise with us; Promote your film; Contests; SpoutNews; Newsletters

Contact us: Media contacts; Feedback; Customer care; Become a Spout tester

Privacy

Help

Site map