Heart Is Deceitful

Note to consumers: The original release of this DVD contains an authoring error, resulting in an abrupt jump that bypasses the "explosion" scene (which can be seen in the previews). Palm Pictures has been very responsive to email requests for replacement versions of the DVD, and if you purchased a defective item, you should contact them via their web site.

J.T. Leroy's "true" life tale about a teenaged truck stop prostitute and her son was first told in a collection of short stories by the same name. The movie follows the early years of Jeremiah, a boy who experiences child rape, has gender confusion, lives as a scavenger, is brainwashed by evangelical Christians, and experiences a revolving door of his mother's boyfriends and tricks. The big screen version follows the written version closely; however, I highly recommend that viewers also pick up a copy of the book (and Leroy's earlier work Sarah) to answer any questions about the backstory, the red bird metaphor, the story of Sarah's own youth, the inner strength of Jeremiah, and more.

Director/Actor Asia Argento is brilliant, pure and simple. She portays child rape and the harrowing seduction of a grown man (Marilyn Manson) by a teenaged boy in drag with artistic genius. Viewers don't need to see the "monster" in full light, and their imagination of the rest of the scene is far more disturbing. As an actor, she portrays Sarah as a chameleon who shifts from a drop-dead looker to a trashy stripper to a drug-addicted junkie to a loving mother to a hateful creep in mere minutes (and then shifts back again). She is both drop-dead gorgeous and completely hideous. Three young actors portray Jeremiah as a stoic boy who grows up in this chaotic environment, and all of them are excellent.

Some reviewers find this movie depressing, and I couldn't disagree more. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This movie is what you make of it. Viewers can easily find a commentary of the child welfare system, insight into the results of a repressed childhood, social commentary on hypocrisy, and insight into the scarring effects of child abuse if they scratch beneath the surface. It's no pick-me-up, but this is in no way the most horrific film I've ever seen (try Baise Moi or Irreversible for that). It's also not an exploitation film by any means. It is brutally honest about events and situations which go on every day in America.

Is the story a hoax? Once again, the authenticity of the movie is open to interpretation. J.T. Leroy has been exposed as the pen name for a woman who was never a truck-stop prostitute, which recasts the short story collection as a work of fiction instead of non-fiction. Literary magazines and critics have engaged in a never-ending debate about the hoax (especially in the light of the James Frey controversy). The primary criticism is that the story loses its authenticity--how can the reader/viewer trust the insight to such sensitive topics if the author never experienced them? For a play-by-play of the backlash and controversy about Leroy's identity, refer to the Wikipedia article on the subject.

The Palm Pictures promotional web site has embraced the controversy in a fun way, which is how I encourage consumers to view it. Yes, the story is larger-than-life. On the other hand, it is far from the outrageous film every made. I truly believe that the statement made by the film is a strong one that is undiluted by the author's credibility with personal experience. (Hoaxes like Go Ask Alice, with its socio-political agenda, are far more dangerous than this story.)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Watch this movie with an open mind and look beneath the surface. Develop your own opinions about the news that the story is actually a work of fiction.

This was never dull. I was riveted (and maybe a little disgusted) throughout the entire movie. I actually thought Asia's directing of this movie was excellent. Far better than Scarlet Diva. I appreciated that the disturbing scenes were mostly left up to your imagination and there was very little violence or "gore". The subject matter was not pleasant, but neither is life sometimes. I got the feeling that if Angelina Jolie had starred in it (and don't get me wrong, I love her) the whole world would have been crowing about how courageous she was for telling such a story. The end was a little confusing, but I found it to be very "real"-as in there aren't always happy endings in real life or neat conclusions. Except for Asia's accent which at times is southern, then italian and other times "american" which I guess was explained with the throw-away line about the mother being from Italy. Other wise, very well done.

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (Asia Argento, 2004)

I've watched a lot of horror movies over the years. Most have all the horror of a dull toothache. Some are disturbing in various degrees. A select few have actually managed to scare me. As with all things, though, the truly scary films-- Johnny Got His Gun, for example-- are not traditional horror films. I say this by explanation of the statement that the opening scene of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, in all its banality, before we have any idea who these people are or any idea of their relationship beyond what we can infer from their sexes and ages, is arguably the most terrifying scene I have ever watched. In comparison, a couple of hours previously I'd watched Jenifer, a short film by Asia Argento's father Dario. In my Jenifer review, I was planning on calling it one of the most disturbing experiences I'd ever had with a movie. Then I watched the first five minutes of this flick, and that went out the window.

Argento (Asia, this time) shoots the scene with the documentarian feel of a Lindsay Anderson or an Errol Morris-- there's no camera trickery, no out-of-the-ordinary dialogue, no weird set design, there are just two people, whom we assume (rightly, we find out) are mother and son. The fear-- the pure, visceral ugliness that telegraphs in no uncertain terms that neither of these two characters will survive this movie in any real sense (and as I write this, to head off spoiler comments, I will say that I have not finished the movie; I was so affected by the first scene, and some of those that followed, I had to stop watching halfway through, and will finish it tonight)-- comes solely from the mundanity of the set, which could be any messy little house in any part of the country, and the raw power displayed by Asia Argento and Jimmy Bennett playing two people who loathe each other to depths that most of us can't begin to comprehend, and yet realize that they're supposed to love one another. And the movie gets worse from there.

Argento plays Sarah, mother to Jeremiah, played by Bennett as a boy and Dylan and Cole (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody-- and how traumatic is THAT?) Sprouse as an adolescent. Sarah is emotionally bereft, an alcoholic and drug addict who lives only to find the next boyfriend and the next score, who views Jeremiah as a weight around her neck but feels compelled to act as his mother because she knows it's what's expected of her. Even when Sarah's parents intervene after Jeremiah ends up in the hospital and keep him at their compound (a vastly disturbing experience in itself) for three years, Sarah comes back for him. Not that being in any one situation is worse than any other for Jeremiah; with the exception of one early scene when he runs away and is temporarily sheltered at a police station, there's no safe place; adults, on the whole, exist in this world for the sole purpose of abusing, exploiting, and destroying children. The movie is relentless in its nihilism; I can't remember seeing a movie this overwhelmingly dark since the first time I saw Guinea Pig 2: The Flower of Flesh and Blood.

This is not a movie you will enjoy. At all. In fact, you'll probably come to hate it on levels you weren't even aware you had. But there is no surer indication that a movie is doing its job, and doing it exceptionally well, when you hate the movie because the movie wants you to hate it. This is a scary, scary movie. ****

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