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07/15/05
The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2006)
42
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:20
Rotten:28
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: The film aims to shock, but there is no higher reason for the parade of sordid images except to be "cool."
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Based on the novel by the mysterious and controversial JT LeRoy, Asia Argento's THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS is a penetrating look at the emotional and physical bonds between mother and... [More]
Starring: Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse
Director: Asia Argento
Reviews for The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things
An overwrought and underwhelming study of childhood abuse.
07/12/05
Top CriticTrying a bit too hard to be a modern cult classic, but it’s clear that Argento’s heart is in the right place.
03/25/06
Top CriticArtful and stylish, Argento's acting and filmmaking are edgy, authentic and rather nuts.
04/05/05
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04/23/09
Emotionally engaging at times, but its general formlessness renders it little more than an excuse for Argento to show off her directing chops, which she does quite well.
03/09/06
Reeks of a project desperate for edgy credibility.
04/13/06
A dutiful course in degradation, complete with a roster of villains as well established as those of any soap opera.
03/06/06
I don't know if the movie follows the book closely, but if it does, you kind of have to wonder how Leroy or Albert or whoever it was made such a splash in the first place.
03/24/06
It's a taxing bit of exploitation, which, although you're glad to know it's a work of fiction, doesn't exactly make a case for itself as art.
03/18/06
Top CriticArgento might one day make a good film - this certainly isn't it.
12/01/04
The emotionless, overwrought movie's lack of psychological depth or dramatic verisimilitude makes the boy's grim odyssey a curiously remote and unshocking horror show.
03/09/06
Top CriticThe drug- and punk rock-milieu and cinematic technique of this film further debase what was low to begin with.
03/09/06
A degraded and degrading film, of interest only because it’s symptomatic of so much that’s wrong with the drearily repetitive tabloid mentality that has infected not just the news media, but the whole culture industry.
03/09/06
This is an execrable movie.
03/10/06
This film's heart is not deceitful, merely obvious and overbearing.
03/09/06
Argento doesn't translate Leroy's novel into the visual language of film, or at least she doesn't conjure up the same feeling the book does.
03/06/06
At best, this film raises an all-too-relevant question: Are true-life stories interesting because they're true? Or because they're interesting? At worst, it raises a different question: What if they're neither true nor interesting?
03/18/06
Given Argento's willingness to attempt the controversial book at all, she pulls a surprising number of punches.
03/10/06
Like LeRoy's novels, the movie finds something hep about degradation, neglect, and eating out of dumpsters. It calls to mind the Zoolander joke about a fashion line, 'Derelict,' inspired by crack whores and hoboes.
03/10/06
Latest News for The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things
March 03, 2006:
Is this an attack on Christian fundamentalists? 
More...
March 02, 2006:
Weinsteins Set To Make "Deceitful" Author J.T. LeRoy Biopic
There's almost a week to go before Asia Argento's "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" opens, so it's perfect timing for The Weinstein Company to announce they've... More...
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