THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a rather disturbing movie directed by Asia Argento who's the actress daughter of noted horror director Dario Argento. The film was based on a book written by author Laura Albert under the pen name of JT Leroy (more on THAT in a bit). In the film, Asia plays a rather disturbed drug-addicted woman who somehow gains custody of her young son when it's clear from the get-go that her character should NOT be allowed to raise a goldfish much less a child. In one particularly disturbing scene, her son, while donning a rather skimpy nightie and wearing a blonde wig and makeup, seduces one of her mother's numerous boyfriends (played by goth rocker Marilyn Manson). When the mother finds out, she goes beserk on Manson's character while he's pleading with her, "But he was acting like you!" (Thankfully, we don't get to see the actual seduction taking place, but it's quite clear what transpired when you watch the film.) At one point, the boy goes to live with his grandfather (played by Peter Fonda) due to his mother's neglectfulness, which, as we soon see, may not be a vast improvement as Fonda's character is such a tyrannical religious nut-case and ends up turning his grandson into one too. Years later, while the boy is out street preaching, his mother shows back up and she persuades him to leave with her with, as one might imagine, rather diastrous results (and, of course, you'll have to watch the film to see what those "results" are). On a MUCH lighter note, Asia Argento is noted for NOT being shy about showing moviegoers her bod in most if not all of her movies (which, of course, I'll discuss later on!). However, she only has one brief strip scene in the film as her character is also a stripper (of course!). The movie also proves that Asia Argento has been a vastly underrated actress (and director) who clearly has NOT received her proper accolades within the acting community. However, if she stars and/or directs more movies like this--only maybe NOT so disturbing!--that might soon change. A sidenote: As I pointed out, this movie is based on a book written by an author named Laura Albert which she wrote under the pen name of JT Leroy, which got her into trouble a few years after the release of Asia's film when it was not only revealed that the half-sister of Laura's then-partner had been making public appearances as Albert's alter-ego Leroy per her request but that she had also been signing legal documents UNDER her pen name. Oops! As a result, Laura was convicted of fraud in 2007 and was ordered to pay reparations (Bernie Madoff, are you listening?). Actually, this could make a pretty interesting movie, though this case did reportedly inspire a 2008 episode of the TV show Law & Order (although they insist at the beginning of each & every episode that the shows are NOT based on any real life incidents!). Going back to the movie, the film's title is a Biblical verse taken verbatum from Jeremaih 17:9 in the Old Testament. Just thought you'd like to know!