The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

How did everyone fall for it?
By PETER KEOUGH  |  March 22, 2006
1.5 1.5 Stars
FANTASIES: Without a basis for truth, the story is just a sadomasochistic daydream.I don’t know about the heart, but the author of this short collection adapted to the screen by Asia Argento sure is a lying sack of shit. “J.T. LeRoy,” male street hustler and cult writer, turns out to be a 40-year-old mom. Does it matter? I believe so: without the aura of truth, the stories reveal themselves to be sado-masochistic daydreams and white-trash clichés. And putting them on screen only underlines that, despite Argento’s pretensions. Which include her performance as Sarah, the addicted, abusive mother of “LeRoy” stand-in Jeremiah. Sarah tears seven-year-old Jeremiah from his loving foster family and takes him on the road. The numbing narrative poses two options for the kid: stick with free-spirit mom and the occasional sodomy from her boyfriends or embrace the beatings and boiling water of his psalm-singing grandparents. Tough call. Even tougher to figure is how so many in Hollywood fell for this crock.
Related: Transylvania, Bases very loaded, Bound and gagged, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Media, Books, Book Reviews,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

More Information
ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: UP IN THE AIR  |  December 02, 2009
    No director pulls off the bait-and-switch as craftily as Jason Reitman. He gets you thinking that you're watching a hip, caustic comedy subverting the status quo, but by the end, he's vindicated all the platitudes he seemed to scorn.
  •   REVIEW: Z (1969)  |  December 01, 2009
    John F. Kennedy wasn't the only political leader murdered in 1963. On May 22 of that year, Gregoris Lambrakis, a left-leaning, pacifist member of the Greek parliament and an aspiring presidential candidate seeking to replace the reigning right-wing government, was assaulted after a peace rally in Thessaloniki. He died five days later.
  •   REVIEW: JULIA  |  December 04, 2009
    When the once-æthereal muse of the late Derek Jarman wiped sweat from her armpits in Michael Clayton , a new persona was born.
  •   REVIEW: THE STRIP  |  December 02, 2009
    In lieu of Steve Carell’s hopelessly inept and earnest manager, we have his creepier duplicate, Glenn. Instead of the boorish brown-noser played by Rainn Wilson, there’s the more obnoxious Rick.
  •   REVIEW: BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS  |  November 24, 2009
    Nicolas Cage is at his best in Bad Lieutenant

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group