Wow, it sounds like this one might be more controversial than 'Bad Education', even.
These quotes are from some of the reviews that are highlighted at that site you linked, Cal:
<i>From the Independent UK
The Ten Best Films At Cannes 2004
By Geoffrey MacNab, film writer
7. THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS
Asia Argento, 2004
Subtle it isn't, but in its own strident and uninhibited way, Asia Argento's adaptation of JT LeRoy's autobiographical novel about the son of a truck-stop prostitute in America's Deep South is strangely effective. Imagine Oliver Twist re-made as a horror pic and you'll come close to its essence.</i>
And this one:
<i>Also from the Independent (different article)
Asked about Argento's JT Leroy adaptation, 'The Heart is Deceitful!', 'Irreversible' director-about-town Gaspar Noe raved about 'the most incredible scenes of paedophilia I've ever seen'. Is that good? 'It's real,' he shrugged.</i>
Also, this was in part of the review by Empire Online:
<i>The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, a Gothic adaptation of J.T. Leroy’s novel about a young boy’s traumatic, cross-dressing adolescence. The movie’s attracted a lot of critical flak already, with some dubbing it the worst film at the festival; this year’s Brown Bunny, a 90-minute wallow in depravity. Asia wasn’t amused... "What you see as depravity is to me just another aspect of the human condition. I’m interested in how certain conditions form a human being," said Argento, who knows a thing or two about colourful childhoods herself. "But it’s not all depravity in life."</i>
And finally, here's part of one that mentioned the Sprouse twins, from Eye Weekly in Toronto:
<i>Above All Things is an adaptation of the novel by J.T. Leroy about a kid (played by twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse) who has the extreme misfortune of having Argento's whacked-out junkie hooker for his mother. She drags him through a somewhat surreal version of the American South that is defined entirely in terms of sex, drugs, violence and old-time religion. Uneven but exciting, it's a kissing cousin to Harmony Korine's Gummo and possibly even more crappity smacked in the head.</i>
Love,
Sir J