The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things's Recent Activity - Spout

Film:The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:11:10 GMT

Title: The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things
Year: 2006
Director: Asia Argento
Plot: Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento directed this faithful screen adaptation of the fictional J.T. Leroy's fictional memoir, which documents a boy's truly harrowing road to adulthood. Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) is the seven-year-old son of Sarah (Asia Argento), an unstable and unwed mother who abandoned her son and left him to be raised by foster parents. Jeremiah has come to love his guardians, and is devastated when Sarah arrives at their doorstep, demanding her child back. Threatening Jeremiah with torture if he tries to run away, Sarah introduces her young son to drugs and encourages her one-night-stand paramours to help "discipline" her son when she feels his behavior is inappropriate. Sarah marries a man named Emerson (Jeremy Renner), but abandons him shortly afterward; Emerson responds by molesting Jeremiah, and soon the child is left in the care of his grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti), members of a fundamentalist Christian sect which emphasizes child discipline that's strict to the point of abuse. After three years, Sarah returns with a new husband, Kenny (Matt Schulze), and takes Jeremiah (now played by Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse) with her; Kenny spends most of his time on the road as a trucker, and Sarah supports the family at home as a stripper and a prostitute. Sarah also begins dressing her son is girl's clothing, which excites the perverse appetites of Sarah's latest boyfriend, Jackson (Marilyn Manson); she soon leaves Jackson and pairs off with Chester (Jeremy Sisto), a biker with a dangerous way of making a living. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Directors Fortnight" series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 28
Number of Lists: 22
Number of blog posts: 25
Number of discussion threads: 8
SpoutRating: 3

Spout Post: The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (for Spout Mavens)

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:11:10 GMT

Post By: pippin06
Post To: Reel Thoughts
Post Date: 2/15/2009 10:11:10 PM
Body: 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 him, and that she'll torture him if he runs away. Scared into submission, Jeremiah quietly accepts his new circumstances. All the while, Sarah feeds her young child drugs and exposes him to a revolving door of step-fathers and quasi-serious boyfriends. The first in the string molests Jeremiah when Sarah runs out on him during their honeymoon, and he leaves Jeremiah for dead, until authorities find him, nurse him to health, and remand him to the custody of his grandparents (his grandfather is played by Peter Fonda). Except that they are fundamentalist Christian, particularly strict, and engage in corporal punishment bordering on abuse for the slightest of infractions. Though Jeremiah (now played by Dylan and Cole Sprouse) adjusts to this new home life, being the most stable since his foster home, Sarah finds him and kidnaps him, taking him with her and her new husband in their semi-truck while she strips to make money. Sarah also takes pleasure in dressing young Jeremiah in girl's clothing, which invites more abuse on the part of a later boyfriend (played by Marilyn Manson - without makeup!). As Jeremiah struggles to make sense of his ever-changing and endangering circumstances, Sarah's mental instability at the hands of drugs and sexual disease deteriorates, and Jeremiah is left to fend for himself and his mother when faced with the prospect of having nowhere else to go. I watched this film a week ago, struggling for the wherewithal to write a non-biased review, but no matter how I attempt to analyze this film, I find that I am unable to take off the Jill Q. Viewer hat and evaluate this film on its artistic merit. The film was graphic and depicted subjects that unsettled, to be sure, and what I struggled with upon completion of the film is what the point of it all was. I am not familiar with Asia Argento's career, so I can't fathom what drew her to this work, unless she was not aware it was a hoax. Even if she thought it was real, I'm trying to figure out what compelled her to film this story, which is riddled with flaws (hoax or not). Some might argue that the underlying theme is the unbreakable bond between mother and son, but this claim is problematic on many levels. If the fictional memoir was literally adapted, Sarah wins her son's love by preying on his fear and abusing him, not only physically (through the introduction of drugs and the administration of corporal punishment by her boyfriends) but mentally and emotionally. The character uses emotional blackmail to gain her son's fealty, and given that he's only 7 to start, he has no weapons to combat this trauma. So, perhaps the film is designed to expose the weaknesses in the child welfare system and the foster care system. After all, how would Sarah regain custody of her son from his stable foster home unless she pulled the wool over the heads of social services? She clearly has shown no evolution or reformation toward a lifestyle that would be stable for her son. She repeats over and over again that she "fought for" him, and that he can't leave her, because she has no one else...and yet, we're provided no reasons or background information as to how she arrived at this point, making these assertions. We know she came from an austere, religious background, and that her appetites seemed to surpass the limits imposed by her totalitarian parents. We can assume that she ran away to quell those appetites, but we're given no backstory as to how this mother arrived at this juncture in her life, with her deteriorating mental state, addictions to sex and drugs, or even how she came about Jeremiah to begin with. Though the film is focused on Jeremiah's perspective, and his constant loyalty breaks the viewers' hearts only because he's too young to know any better or know how to extract himself from these circumstances, it would help to understand more of the journey and why Jeremiah is dealt the lot he is to know more about the mother. Even if the explanation fails to satisfy, at least an explanation would be offered, whereas the current tale provides none. To her credit, Argento and partnering cinematographers infuse the film with a hip, pop-art sensibility, washing frames in gritty hues punctuated by bright colors to accentuate the surreality of Jeremiah's circumstances. Camera perspectives are employed creatively, using off-kilter or overhead shots in unexpected places to emphasize the skew of this poor boy's life. The soundtrack was supplied by Sonic Youth, Billy Corgan, and other progressive-rock contributors, and there are sneaky cameos by people like Winona Ryder. Yet, in some ways, these edgy and creative elements aid the film in glorifying the subject matter, which, hoax or not, provides little to consider other than the fact that the visuals themselves are graphic and disturbing, and that the story, what there is of it, seems to have no purpose other than to be disturbing for disturbing's sake. Also, the performances are largely awkward and disjointed, provided as they are by strings of B-actors (or non-actors, as it were). The most believable and heartbreaking performance belongs to Jimmy Bennett as the younger version of Jeremiah, portraying the most visceral and gut-wrenching of emotions and states of mind, both sober and drug-induced. It was his convincing and mature portrayal that makes the rest of the film both marginally worthwhile and repugnant all at the same time. In the end, I did not really enjoy The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things because the film itself is deceptive. It wants to be a piece of in-your-face art, striving to challenge the viewer to find the diamond(s) in the rough of its painful story. Yet, the story as a story is deeply flawed, the heartstring-tugging and painful childhood is based on a fiction that does not deserve to be sensationalized, and the art itself is inconsistent and does nothing to redeem the film or reward the viewer for sitting through it. Also, while it seems to want to paint the picture of the undying bond between mother and son, it fails to do so in any emotionally resonant way, at least for this viewer, who remembered how the bond was formed to begin with. All in all, I think the film deserves a 4.5 on the ratings scale, between fair/nice idea that wasn't pulled off and utterly mediocre. I could be biased because of the material, but since the material forms the basis of the entire piece, and since the rest of the piece is creative but unsatisfying in every way, I think the rating, scathing though it is, is anything but deceptive of how this viewer perceived this film.

Spout Post: Re:Best Movie Lists -- DVD giveaway

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:26:46 GMT

Post By: Dr_Gor
Post To: Filmgaming
Post Date: 1/10/2009 11:26:46 PM
Body: [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 - Watch the trailer. A coming-of-age story set in 1960s London. A boy has to choose between loyalty to his friends and the acceptance of his prejudiced neighbors. 4. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Watch the trailer. A young boy bounces among foster homes and into the care of his drug-addict/prostitute mother. Included on Queer Cinema's list Transvestism in film. 5. Africa Unite or You're Gonna Miss Me - Winners get to choose the film that looks more interesting. Africa Unite: A Celebration of Bob Marley's Vision is a concert film and humanitarian documentary. Watch the trailer. You're Gonna Miss Me: A film about Roky Erickson looks at Roky's far-reaching influence on rock music and his struggle with schizophrenia. On FilmCouch's list The Tortured Artist. Watch the trailer. [/quote] Here is a list of mine that is short and sweet... List of Extreme Films by Extreme Cinema - Movie & Film Lists - Spout

Spout Post: Re:Best Movie Lists -- DVD giveaway

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:45:15 GMT

Post By: laurakewl
Post To: Filmgaming
Post Date: 1/7/2009 4:45:15 PM
Body: [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 - Watch the trailer. A coming-of-age story set in 1960s London. A boy has to choose between loyalty to his friends and the acceptance of his prejudiced neighbors. 4. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Watch the trailer. A young boy bounces among foster homes and into the care of his drug-addict/prostitute mother. Included on Queer Cinema's list Transvestism in film. 5. Africa Unite or You're Gonna Miss Me - Winners get to choose the film that looks more interesting. Africa Unite: A Celebration of Bob Marley's Vision is a concert film and humanitarian documentary. Watch the trailer. You're Gonna Miss Me: A film about Roky Erickson looks at Roky's far-reaching influence on rock music and his struggle with schizophrenia. On FilmCouch's list The Tortured Artist. Watch the trailer. [/quote]

Spout Post: Best Movie Lists -- DVD giveaway

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:23:44 GMT

Post By: spout
Post To: Filmgaming
Post Date: 1/5/2009 12:23:44 PM
Body: 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 set in 1960s London. A boy has to choose between loyalty to his friends and the acceptance of his prejudiced neighbors. 4. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Watch the trailer. A young boy bounces among foster homes and into the care of his drug-addict/prostitute mother. Included on Queer Cinema's list Transvestism in film. 5. Africa Unite or You're Gonna Miss Me - Winners get to choose the film that looks more interesting. Africa Unite: A Celebration of Bob Marley's Vision is a concert film and humanitarian documentary. Watch the trailer. You're Gonna Miss Me: A film about Roky Erickson looks at Roky's far-reaching influence on rock music and his struggle with schizophrenia. On FilmCouch's list The Tortured Artist. Watch the trailer.

Spout Post: [REVIEW] The shaky tale of a loser.

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:27:40 GMT

Post By: tadiv
Post To: tadiv Blog
Post Date: 11/29/2008 2:27:40 PM
Body: 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 is Deceitful Above All Things, there were times when I wanted to look away for fear of disgust over what I may see next. While watching The Wrestler, I had to look away for fear of being sick to my stomach because of all the shaky hand-held camera work. This picture is the story of a loser who knows one thing - the professional wrestling game. He is such a loser that he wants to get serious with Cassidy, the dancer who is his age and always has time for him as long as he has a fresh supply of twenty-dollar bills. Shelling out those twenty-dollar bills has made Randy late on his rent, so he finds himself padlocked out of his modest trailer home. Cassidy, holding on to her “I'm a professional” mindset, really likes Randy, but wants to maintain the separation between her professional life and her personal life. Finding himself facing a personal health crisis, Randy reaches out to his daughter, Stephanie. Randy has not seen her in many years and she has a pretty good idea of what a loser he is. The film actually tells us how many years, but really, who cares? There are some emotionally effective scenes between Randy and Stephanie as well as between Randy and Cassidy, but all in all there is nothing much to be gained from this film. Except to see a loser fall back into the old pattern of the only thing he knows when he has a real chance to step away, The Wrestler is an empty, nauseous film experience.

Spout Post: Review of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:24:45 GMT

Post By: leeroy711
Post To: leeroy711 Blog
Post Date: 10/12/2008 3:24:45 AM
Body: ** 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 other reviews. In one scene, Asia Argento actually plays the part of her son pretending to be her. I don’t really think this was purely an artistic decision. I have a feeling that this was also serving the purpose of saving what little innocence the Sprouse twins had left. Thankfully the most graphic of scenes were simulated rather than shown. I’m not sure if I could have choked this one down if it had been much worse. The acting by Asia Argento was pretty good here. It wasn’t great but some of the scenes that showed the desperate logic and rage that clouds the mind of a junkie were done really well. I also got a kick out of some of the cameos. Peter Fonda, Winona Rider, Michael Pitt and Jeremy Sisto are all in this film in very small portions. Unfortunately for this film, there were just too many things I disliked and a few that I outright hated for this to get a good review from me. I will probably be the first reviewer to mention this but, I was thoroughly disgusted with that afro that Argento had in a headlock. Of all things in this film, this could have been the most unnerving and completely unnecessary. I mean, come on, I’ve been to some dive strip bars in my time, but I have never thrown down a dollar for a dancer who looked like she had just given Bigfoot a noogie. CAUTION – SPOILER ALERT The biggest problem this movie had was that it quite simply had no soul. It was filled with antagonists and victims. You wait through the entire 97 minutes waiting for someone with a heart to come and save this poor kid from his life. But alas, no such person exists. Even to the very end of the film you feel as though it can’t be over. There isn’t even a light at the end of the tunnel. You are left with a sense that what awaits will just be more of the same, only worse. I really just can’t get behind a movie like this. I’m really not sure even what I just watched. It was far too intense to be a melodrama. There were far too many far-fetched things going on to call it any sort of realism. And a tragedy will always at least give you some sort of closure in the end. This film lacks those crucial elements that allow the audience to get any sort of satisfaction. Recommendations: If you are interested in seeing other films that portray graphic drug abuse and its consequences. Look no further than Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting. These both fall under the category of: if you were thinking about trying it, watch this first and then you won’t. Bonus: (New Feature) I’ve decided to implement a new feature into my reviews. You see, I like music and sharing my music with others. So, from now on, I will be embedding a song that I think would be appropriate to listen to while reading my review. I will try to make it associated with the theme or an element of the film. Failure – “The Nurse Who Loved Me”

Spout Post: The Heart and the Film is Most Deceitful...

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:46:49 GMT

Post By: belladonna2054
Post To: belladonna2054 Blog
Post Date: 10/7/2008 10:46:49 AM
Body: 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 he is with is his real mother and he wants to go back to his foster parents, much to the chagrin of Sarah. She in turn, quickly fed up with Jeremiah’s refusal to accept her, becomes abusive, by telling him that it was his foster parents that did not want or love him, thus the reason why they gave him up. One day Sarah quits her job as a waitress and takes her son on a car ride down a road where the lines of reality and insanity begin to blur. She quickly hooks up with a guy from a bar, leaving Jeremiah in a car waiting. When he does come into the man's apartment, he is told to sleep in the tub where he accidently urinates himself in. Sarah finds out about this and punishes him via the guy from the bar, with a belt. This string of men that Sarah becomes involved with continues until she meets and marries a man named Emerson (Jeremy Renner). Both delinquents leave Jeremiah to fend for himself for two weeks, while both go on their honeymoon. He withdraws into himself and seeks refuge in his imagination as he waits for their return. But when someone does return, it is not who he expects. Emerson, alone and upset, comes in. Sarah apparently has left him, and left Jeremiah in his care. But it is not the type of care that one would get at a would-be stepfather and Jeremiah is abandoned on the streets to be found and taken to a hospital. When Jeremiah wakes, he is told that his Grandmother (Ornella Muti) has custody of him. She takes him back to their house and into their Evangelical teachings of his Grandfather (Peter Fonda). He is forced to submit into their doctrine which is fanatical and leaves you wondering which family member is he better off with. After three years in their custody, a now older Jeremiah (played by Dylan and Cole Sprouse) is reunited with Sarah. He is taken, without the permission of his grandparents, by her and her new boyfriend where he once more goes down the path that nearly killed him. At times this was a hard film to watch because some of the scenes are graphic. All of the children that played Jeremiah: Jimmy Bennett, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, did a fantastic job. Asia Argento was excellent in her role as Sarah which was uncanny at times because you have to wonder if she really was going crazy. Though he had only a cameo role, Peter Fonda did well as the Puritanical grandfather. Fonda looked and sounded what one would and you definitely get a sense of what life was like for Sarah, as a child, and eventually Jeremiah. I recommend this film to those who also enjoy Clean (2006) and The Basketball Diaries (1995).

Spout Post: Innocence Does Not Come Undone

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:55:14 GMT

Post By: belladonna2054
Post To: belladonna2054 Blog
Post Date: 8/16/2008 9:55:14 PM
Body: 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 finds Mauro on Motel’s doorstep. What Mauro doesn’t know is Motel died earlier that day. Shlomo takes him in and when Mauro tells him that his parents are on vacation, Shlomo doesn’t believe it. Seeking advice on what to do with him, Shlomo goes to his Rabbi and the community elders. They tell him to take care of the boy and wait for his parents until the World Cup. Shlomo follows this advice, but Mauro and he have a difficult time adjusting to each other as Mauro was not raised Jewish as his father was. But both learn to adapt to each other. Meanwhile, Mauro discovers the other children that live in the neighborhood and quickly becomes friends with Hannah (Daniela Piepszyk). At first Mauro rejects her and the others afraid to leave the telephone, but eventually he becomes brave enough to do so and joins Hannah and her gang of boys as they play soccer and pay her admission to her mother’s clothing shop to see the young women undress. Hamburger’s portrayal of innocence in a chaotic world is priceless. He essentially asks the question: ‘When should a child know the full truth? Or do they know the full truth already?’ But these questions are left to the viewer to decide as it is never fully answered in the film. In the end innocence never ends, it continues on in a dualistic life outside reality. The only unifying aspect of this world is the World Cup where everyone bands together in hopes that Brazil wins. Everyone from the children to the Rabbi gather in groups in the diner, in their own homes, to cheer on the team to victory. Michel Joelsas does a excellent portrayal of Mauro, but when the subject of his character’s parents’ ‘vacation’ comes up he handles the denial that the possibility that he was abandoned wonderfully. In response to any discussion, he delves back into the one thing he loves: soccer. Soccer is a refuge for him to cope with life without his parents. Germano Haiut also does well portraying Shlomo. He is a man who never really handled children before and at first he is hesistant, but sympathic to Mauro’s situation. As time passes by he grows fond of Mauro to call him his own. The movie is a great independent foreign film that deals with a child’s point-of-view of a chaotic world. Usually this is not my type of film, but on occasion a film does change my perspective. This film is recommended for those who enjoy The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) and The Sixth Sense (1999).

Spout Post: Hmm...

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:14:46 GMT

Post By: Smooth_J
Post To: Smooth_J Blog
Post Date: 7/8/2008 12:14:46 PM
Body: 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 an inspired, "tour-de-force" performance, so to speak. She literally becomes this disgusting, wastoid of a human being, and it's a marvel to watch. The scenes in which she begins to convince Jeremiah that his foster parents don't love him are perhaps the highlights of her role; the malice and mischief in her eyes perfectly sum up her function in completely corrupting this poor little kid. Most of the other characters in the film mostly make up bit parts, and I didn't really even take the time to see the names of most of her boyfriends. It's actually pretty unreal seeing Henry Fonda in this movie as Jeremiah's grandfather. He portray's the role effectively but, to be honest, I thought he had better taste than this. It's also pretty weird to see a cameo by Ben Foster as some creepy guy that gives Jeremiah a bath at his grandparents house--I guess maybe you could see that small part as a precursor to his magnificent performance in 3:10 to Yuma. All of the performances are for the most part adequate; even Dylan and Cole Sprouse of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody fame are convincing as Jeremiah, though you can't help but thinking "What sort of parent would let their kid even be in this sort of movie?" You can't really focus on those sort of ethics if you want to effectively view and enjoy a film, but in a film that investigates such turpitude, it's hard not to. Something that this film is also very effective in doing is rousing my interest in the original novel. After viewing something this different and unsettling, one can't help but wonder as to what sort of book would spawn this film, and what sort of book has such a devoted cult following. I researched the book and the film, and found out just how popular the book was in certain circles, and went over the discussions pertaining to "how much the movie left out" and "how much better the book was." In general, any devoted fan of any book that is adapted into a movie typically is unhappy with the finished product and bitches endlessly about how much better the book was. A similar, though significantly less disturbed fanbase may be the most arduous of the Harry Potter fans, who tend to complain no matter how noble the film's attempts are at capturing the essence of the books. A novel similar in subject matter to The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things may be Naked Lunch, which also has a quite prominent cult following that was not all too happy with Cronenberg's valiant attempts to adapt it. Closing out the subject of the book-to-movie adaptations: Books and film are a completely different medium. When the rights to a book are given to a film-maker, the fans of the book just as much as the owners must be aware of this. They must also be aware that the film-makers will express the book creatively onto film, and it is inevitable that certain aspects of the source material will be changed to fit the film-maker's vision. And only in certain instances is this a bad thing. Anyways... Being one of the many viewers of this film that have not read the book, there are several complaints that can be made about the film itself. One is that not enough attempts are made to characterize the young Jeremiah in the beginning, making his descent into madness with his mother not as shocking as it could have been. The kid in beginning seems clean-cut, but it is not really known, since almost right away the mother neglects and he begins to freak out. Also, another discrepancy with the exposition of the film is that it really only displays the bonding of mother and child through a sketchy montage. It's well put together, but not all that effective in what it's trying to show. There are several points of the film that feel this way, as though director Argento almost got it right, but fell miserably short. Some of the surreal imagery of the film is very cool, but once again, not effective; for example, there is a trippy sequence during which the kid is running to a police station. And not only is it trippy, but it is shown from the kid's viewpoint as being trippy. It's interesting, but overall, pretty dumb. The one aspect of that sort of imagery that I enjoyed was the significance of the two red birds. It's a VERY provocative addition to the theme of Jeremiah's loss of innocence and slow plunge into mother-induced madness. In writing this review, I came to realize my true feelings on the film itself: I don't like it, but I don't dislike it. The description of three-stars as given by Spout really describe it perfectly: I'm neutral about it. Which is strange, because it's quite obvious that there's so much to dislike about the film. The best explanation I can think of is that humans are inherently drawn to the most bestial of entertainment, and my subconciously human mind enjoyed seeing a mother giving her son speed pills. But my better nature tells me that this movie is basically just an exercise in degeneracy, and I disliked it immensely. I'm neutral about it.

Spout Post: Almost a brilliant train reck

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:28:02 GMT

Post By: laraemeadows
Post To: laraemeadows Blog
Post Date: 6/25/2008 1:28:02 AM
Body: 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 biggest complaint is the director/writer, Asia Argento creates such a great gritty movie with such realistic elements of emotional malnourishment and physical abuse but dashes them away when there is a visual effect using red crows that shattered my complete submission to the story. Argento splashed the screen with honest depictions of what happens to abused children. When they moved using black garbage bags I broke down in tears because most of the dozens of movies I’ve had to make were made using the illustrious garbage bag. Then out of nowhere, a crappy red crow. The crows look like they were physically painted with acrylic paint, photographed, pasted in a flip book and filmed. After they were filmed they were placed in a scene in the most bizarre way possible. It felt like Argento slammed on the breaks while driving 100 miles per hour for no reason in rush hour; it causes a pileup. Most of the acting in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, is phenomenal. All of the actors do a great job of showing true packaging in which evil comes. Most of the actors know when to pull the character back from obviously monstrous and make the character so incediously subtle they would be hard to spot by normal people in the real world. I admit, I was too let down by the visuals and some herkey jerkey camera work to enjoy this movie. I will recommend it as an explanation to why being bounced from place to place, from home to home is damaging to a child and how a child can become very good at survival techniques. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)

Spout Tag:drugs

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