The backbone of the film is the performance of Tallie Medel. With a face that shifts effortlessly between inscrutability and deep vulnerability, Medel creates a protagonist who is frustrating, hilarious, and heartbreaking. She plays Jackie not as a predator, but as a confused young woman clinging to the only person who makes sense to her.
Her chemistry with Sky Hirschkron is pivotal. They move through their cramped apartment and the streets of Brooklyn with the easy rhythm of siblings, making the sudden intrusions of Jackie’s romantic longing feel jarring and tragic. The film relies heavily on dialogue—long, winding conversations about life, morality, and happiness—and both actors deliver Sallitt’s hyper-literate script with natural ease.
Set in a sun-drenched but emotionally claustrophobic Park Slope, Brooklyn, the film follows 17-year-old Jackie (the astonishing Tallie Medel) as she navigates the final summer before college. Her older brother, Matthew (Sky Hirschkron), is heading off to a new life. But Jackie is not sad in the ordinary sense. She is devastated because she is in love—not with a classmate or a stranger, but with Matthew.
From childhood play to teenage anguish, Jackie has nurtured a singular, unwavering romantic love for her brother. The “unspeakable act” of the title is never depicted. There is no graphic transgression, no exploitative turn. Instead, the film treats Jackie’s desire as a philosophical problem and a psychological reality. The act is unspeakable not because it is monstrous, but because the words to justify it do not exist in polite society. the unspeakable act 2012 online exclusive
Online Exclusive: Revisiting the Indie That Dared to Whisper
In the landscape of 2012 independent cinema—dominated by bombastic debuts and mumblecore hangouts—writer/director Dan Sallitt slipped in a Trojan horse of emotional devastation. The Unspeakable Act is not a film that shouts its intentions. It whispers them into your ear late at night, and then refuses to leave your head.
Visually, The Unspeakable Act is a time capsule of early 2010s Brooklyn. Shot on digital video with a low budget, the film embraces an unpolished aesthetic. This lo-fi quality contributes to its authenticity. It feels like a document of a real place and time, capturing the gentrification shifts and the specific melancholy of young adulthood in the city. The backbone of the film is the performance of Tallie Medel
Sallitt’s direction is classical in its framing but modern in its sensibility. He favors static shots and long takes, allowing the actors to build tension without the crutch of editing. This "theatrical" approach draws the viewer closer, making the "unspeakable" nature of the subject matter feel uncomfortably intimate.
Dan Sallitt, a former film critic turned filmmaker, is known for his talk-driven, naturalistic style. The Unspeakable Act is no exception. Shot in crisp digital video with a palette of warm yellows and muted greens, the film relies almost entirely on close-ups and two-shots of characters in kitchens, on stoops, and in parked cars. Dialogue is not plot-propelling; it is exploratory. Jackie and Matthew discuss Kafka, college applications, and the meaning of growing up—all while the unsaid hums beneath every exchange.
Sallitt’s genius lies in making Jackie’s obsession feel logical, even sympathetic. She is not a victim or a predator. She is a hyper-articulate teenager trapped in a body and a society that refuses her one true emotional conclusion. As Jackie tells her bewildered mother (Louise King): “I’m not crazy. I just love him. Why does that have to be a crime?” Her chemistry with Sky Hirschkron is pivotal
On its surface, the film is a coming-of-age drama set in a comfortable Brooklyn home. But its engine is a stunningly uncomfortable premise: 17-year-old Jackie (the revelatory Tallie Medel) is deeply, hopelessly, and unapologetically in love with her older brother, Matthew (Sky Hirschkron).
This is not a lurid thriller or a melodramatic taboo-breaker. Sallitt plays the material with a disarming, deadpan naturalism. There are no sinister shadows or predatory scores. There is only Jackie’s voiceover—wry, intellectual, and increasingly unhinged—as she rationalizes her obsession while Matthew prepares to go to college and start a life with his girlfriend.
