The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Great Film overall

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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 was because I had a similar upbringing, 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 even goes as far as introducing him to drugs at a very young age. Jeremiah loses 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 black 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 insidiously 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 herky- jerky camera work to enjoy The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. I will recommend it as an explanation as 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 dysfunctional twenty-three years old Sarah (Asia Argento) takes her six years old natural son Jeremiah from the home of his beloved foster parents with the support of the social service to live with her. Along the years, the boy shares her insane and lowlife style and is introduced to booze and drugs and mentally, physically and sexually abused by Sarah, her lovers and her religiously fanatic family."The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" has one of the most sad, depressive, cruel and unpleasant story that I have ever seen in a movie. It is realistic and dramatic, showing a North America of losers and perverts, and not the usual land of dreams of most Hollywood movies. Asia Argento is amazing directing, writing the screenplay and acting, in the role of the vulgar and cheap Sarah, honoring the blood and names of her father Dario Argento and her mother Daria Nicolodi. The boys Jimmy Bennett, Dylan and Cole Sprouse have also magnificent interpretations in the role of the suffered Jeremiah. Unfortunately there are users that confuse an unpleasant story with a bad film, writing bad reviews because they did not like the movie. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Maldito Coração" ("Damned Heart")

Rented this film out of curiosity towards Ms. Argento's film-making. While the film got off to a shaky start, it quickly evolved into a well-crafted and creatively interesting piece of film-making. While the subject matter of the story itself is upsetting to say the least, it is very well handled. Clearly Ms. Argento has a knack for weaving a compelling and meaningful tale. It will be interesting to see what stories she chooses to tell next and what kinds of characters she will choose to play in her upcoming projects. Overall, this film is worth watching, but make sure you are prepared for some heavy subject matter as it doesn't pull its punches!

An incredibly raw story, of love and abuse. I had a difficult time watching this heart wrenching movie. The story is one of a small boy who's pulled out of a loving foster home by his natural mother. In the years that follow, the boy endures years of abuse (physical, mental, sexual), drugs, violence and the cruelty of a harsh real world, all for the sake of love. A disturbing plunge into the icy depths of depravity, delusion and despair. The boys mother is damaged goods, who is desperately looking for the same thing the boy craves. The acting, camera work and directing were outstanding, but the subject matter was dark, depressing and demented. I doubt I have the courage to watch this again.