“I made Mama think I was depressed – or maybe I was depressed. I don’t know. I felt like I was pretending to be depressed to avoid having the talk. But maybe I was really depressed and just thought I was pretending.”
After reading the film’s synopsis— “17-year-old Jackie is in distress as her older brother Matthew gets his first girlfriend and prepares for college. Though Matthew does not share her incestuous desire, Jackie resists the intrusion of reality on her idyllic childhood world.”—The Unspeakable Act sounds like your typical, American indie filled with moments of pseudo-psychology, overly clever dialogue, and exaggerated self-importance. But it is one of the most assured and insightful films of 2013 – and one of the least-seen. Despite a glowing review from Film Comment’s Jonathan Robbins and a spot on Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s ‘best of’ list, the film has yet to gain the type of recognition it deserves.
After reading the film’s synopsis— “17-year-old Jackie is in distress as her older brother Matthew gets his first girlfriend and prepares for college. Though Matthew does not share her incestuous desire, Jackie resists the intrusion of reality on her idyllic childhood world.”—The Unspeakable Act sounds like your typical, American indie filled with moments of pseudo-psychology, overly clever dialogue, and exaggerated self-importance. But it is one of the most assured and insightful films of 2013 – and one of the least-seen. Despite a glowing review from Film Comment’s Jonathan Robbins and a spot on Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s ‘best of’ list, the film has yet to gain the type of recognition it deserves.
- 3/26/2014
- by Griffin Bell
- SoundOnSight
The Unspeakable Act
Directed by Dan Sallitt
Written by Dan Sallitt
USA, 2012
There are countless moments in Dan Sallitt’s The Unspeakable Act that resonate far deeper than most things you’ve seen on screen; this is a precise and assured work that revels in silence and bruises the viewer with its spoken and unspoken intimacy. The film is the third entry in writer/director Dan Sallitt’s modest filmography thus far, representing some sort of miraculous watershed moment for independent cinema and for Sallitt himself. Though the director tends to deal in taboo subjects, his approach at unearthing brutal truths and honesty within the medium shines brightest in his latest. While on the surface it’s a film about incest, reducing the film and Sallitt’s intentions to a singular portrait of said taboo would prove to be a rather faulty endeavor.
We first meet Jackie (Tallie Medel) as...
Directed by Dan Sallitt
Written by Dan Sallitt
USA, 2012
There are countless moments in Dan Sallitt’s The Unspeakable Act that resonate far deeper than most things you’ve seen on screen; this is a precise and assured work that revels in silence and bruises the viewer with its spoken and unspoken intimacy. The film is the third entry in writer/director Dan Sallitt’s modest filmography thus far, representing some sort of miraculous watershed moment for independent cinema and for Sallitt himself. Though the director tends to deal in taboo subjects, his approach at unearthing brutal truths and honesty within the medium shines brightest in his latest. While on the surface it’s a film about incest, reducing the film and Sallitt’s intentions to a singular portrait of said taboo would prove to be a rather faulty endeavor.
We first meet Jackie (Tallie Medel) as...
- 3/16/2013
- by Ty Landis
- SoundOnSight
Jackie (Tallie Medel), a teenage girl weighed down by her own emotions and insecurities about life, lives within an unconventional family dynamic and shares an, at times, uncomfortably close bond with her older brother, Matthew (Sky Hirschkron). While Matthew doesn’t reciprocate and happily embarks upon relationships with other woman, Jackie harbours a deep, romantic and sexual love for him. As Matthew heads off to college and their lives drift further and further apart, she’s forced to face up to facts and motivate herself to move on.
For a film that concerns itself with the controversial topic of incest, The Unspeakable Act is surprisingly restrained, with writer and director Dan Sallitt chooses to merely scratch the surface rather than presenting something explicit that would likely turn viewers off immediately. That’s not to say the film isn’t full of ambiguity surrounding the close-knit relationship Jackie and Matthew share...
For a film that concerns itself with the controversial topic of incest, The Unspeakable Act is surprisingly restrained, with writer and director Dan Sallitt chooses to merely scratch the surface rather than presenting something explicit that would likely turn viewers off immediately. That’s not to say the film isn’t full of ambiguity surrounding the close-knit relationship Jackie and Matthew share...
- 6/25/2012
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Dan Sallitt's new film, The Unspeakable Act, marks the return of an underseen, major American filmmaker (long esteemed as one of the superior cinema critics writing in English, often here at The Notebook) with a feature which surely ranks among the richest works of the last several years.
Additionally, the new Sallitt film introduces the world to Tallie Medel, a performer whose intellect, emotive capacity, and force of persona place her in the outstanding category of such ascendant figures as Greta Gerwig and Kate Lyn Sheil while outlining a contour of being, a persuasion, that are hers alone.
The Unspeakable Act has its New York premiere as part of BAMcinemaFest on Sunday, June 24th, and its international premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Friday, June 29th, with three screenings at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to follow in July.
The conversation below took place over email across the last two months.
Additionally, the new Sallitt film introduces the world to Tallie Medel, a performer whose intellect, emotive capacity, and force of persona place her in the outstanding category of such ascendant figures as Greta Gerwig and Kate Lyn Sheil while outlining a contour of being, a persuasion, that are hers alone.
The Unspeakable Act has its New York premiere as part of BAMcinemaFest on Sunday, June 24th, and its international premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Friday, June 29th, with three screenings at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to follow in July.
The conversation below took place over email across the last two months.
- 6/20/2012
- MUBI
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