Feedback on the film

From: Steve Janas
To: le_terminator22@hotmail.com
Subject: The Heart is Deceitful screening in Philly
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 14:45:37 -0700 (PDT)

Hello JT:

My name is Steve Janas. I just saw the screening of
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things last night
At the Philly film festival and I loved it. I was very
surprised when I saw the title listed in the
program for the film festival - I read the book a couple
years ago, but I had no idea that anyone had made it into
a movie. As soon as I saw the name in the program, I
knew I had to go check it out - as it turns out,
that was the only film at the festival that I managed to
motivate myself to go see.

Before the screening, the film's executive producer
(Lilly Bright) read an email that she said you
wrote for last night's screening. In the email,
you said (if I'm not mistaken) that writing these
stories was a sort of therapy for you suggested by your
therapist, and what we read and saw on the screen
had a sort of metaphorical relationship to the issues
you were addressing in therapy.

That revelation stuck with me throughout the movie
and afterwards. The life Jeremiah falls into is pretty
horrific, but, from what I understand, there are
few autobiographical elements to the story. I'd be
interested to know what these story events are
metaphors for, and why you chose those particular
metaphors to express your inner soul. Of course,
those are the kinds of things you probably don't share
with too many people beside your therapist, so if you'd
rather not share them, I completely understand.

I, too, am a writer and I know that what I write
gives life to inner conflicts and feelings that are
amorphous and hard to grab hold of if I try to
shine the light of consciousness onto them. I am
fascinated with the way the sub-conscious finds expression in
art, and I've read a fair amount of Carl Jung to
explore the issue. Any insight offered by another
writer is invaluable.

One other thing I was curious about is the title of
the story. I didn't see a lot of deception going
on, but I saw ample evidence that the universe is a
cold-hearted bitch, and everyone, even small
children, are on their own. Whose heart is deceitful in the
story? Sarah? Jeremiah? Everyone?

Anyway, forgive me for rambling. After seeing the
film, I felt compelled to contact someone involved
in its authorship. I guess it's a way of getting
closer to a story that really affected me. Congratulations
on a job well-done.

- Steve Janas