Tallie Medel opens “The Unspeakable Act,” written, edited, and directed by Dan Sallitt in 2012, by recalling how, in the spring of 2011, her brother Matthew—then 18—got his first real girlfriend. “I had somehow thought that he and I had an unspoken agreement that we belonged to each other,” she continues, “which was really pretty stupid of me.”
The narrative launches Jackie’s senior year of high school, where she grapples with an entrenched, unreciprocated attraction to her brother. Matthew (Sky Hirschkron) acknowledges her feelings but chooses to distance himself to pursue other relationships—some of which he may actually act upon. His decision to establish boundaries precipitates a downward spiral for Jackie: she loses her appetite, suffers insomnia, and incessantly seeks details about his new girlfriend, only to be left empty when he ends the relationship. Even after Matthew leaves for college, Jackie’s yearning persists, though the separation compels her to construct a life beyond this fixation, even as she cannot help but think of him while intimate with other classmates.
Dan Sallitt’s principal achievement in “The Unspeakable Act” is his decision not to reduce his characters to mere vehicles for shock value. Jackie and Matthew are portrayed as ordinary teenagers with active social lives and personal interests. They discuss literature, music, and sexuality, and while they maintain a close relationship with their mother, they remain aloof from their older siblings. Tallie Medel and Sky Hirschkron give nuanced performances, presenting their characters as thoughtful and self‑aware individuals who may stumble but ultimately evolve. Their humanity is unmistakable; the only difference lies in the taboo nature of Jackie’s feelings.
Nevertheless, Sallitt treats Jackie’s obsessive love for her brother—not merely a scandalous plot device—with genuine seriousness. Her affection is authentic, compelling her to confront it if she hopes to function within society. The turmoil arises from her recognition that persisting in this desire would preclude a normal adult life and diminish her bond with Matthew. In “The Unspeakable Act,” Sallitt captures a fundamental coming‑of‑age truth: not every wish can be fulfilled.
Fourteen years after his debut, Dan Sallitt presents “What Can’t Be Mentioned,” a sequel that resumes the story roughly a decade later. Jackie (now in her late twenties) learns that her brother Matthew is expecting a child with his partner Lily (Kit Zauhar, known for directing “Actual People” and “This Closeness”). On the surface, Jackie appears to have built a stable adult life—working as a therapist and sharing an apartment with her boyfriend Anthony (Kyle McCormack). However, Sallitt soon exposes the fragility beneath this veneer. She grapples with a sudden sexual disconnect from Anthony, leading them both into couples therapy where uncomfortable homework assignments prove difficult for her to embrace. Even as she seems proficient in her profession, she confides a countertransference feeling toward a middle‑aged client worried that her own children may be experimenting with each other’s sexuality.
Sallitt frames Jackie’s personal and vocational challenges as relatable moments anyone might encounter, yet he consistently layers them with the lingering echo of her adolescent fixation on Matthew—a presence that feels like an uninvited guest lingering in her mind. Upon learning of Matthew’s upcoming fatherhood, she drives upstate for what she tells Anthony is a chance to reconnect with her brother and his new partner. In reality, she spends the week intoxicated on red wine, interrogating Lily with pointed questions about her bisexuality and how pregnancy is altering her intimate life with Matthew, rather than attempting to bond with the couple.
Lily maintains a serene, almost monastic composure when confronted with Jackie’s intrusive questions. (“My parents are hippies,” she remarks calmly. “Talking about sex is like talking about the laundry.”) Sallitt deliberately avoids emphasizing the irony that Jackie fails to recognize how Matthew and Lily’s similar temperament actually makes them well‑suited. Zauhar mirrors Hirschkron’s steady demeanor, even as Lily seeks to draw Matthew into revealing more about Jackie. “Is she an alcoholic?” Matthew asks with a relaxed tone. “She just likes to cut loose some times. She’ll be fine when she’s back home,” he replies. “Is she gay?” he continues, noting that people often conceal such truths from those closest to them. “Believe me, she’s not gay,” he insists. This unspoken secret creates a subtle rift between the otherwise harmonious couple, one that could deepen over time.
“What Can’t Be Mentioned” clocks in at just over an hour, a rarity that leaves one wishing for another ten or fifteen minutes to further explore its subdued tensions or simply to linger with the characters. Sallitt preserves the aesthetic of his earlier work—static framing and an absence of camera movement—while sharpening the editing rhythm to reflect the more rigid cadence of adult professional life. He enriches the sequel’s universe by weaving in allusions to “The Unspeakable Act”: therapist Linda (Caroline Luft) appears via Zoom to provide counsel, and Matthew references conversations with their mother and older brother Will. Notably absent is the second‑oldest sister Jeanne, whom Jackie once predicted would depart without looking back. Through these subtle callbacks, Sallitt constructs a cohesive, lived‑in narrative teeming with unspoken histories.
While “The Unspeakable Act” and “What Can’t Be Mentioned” stand as separate works—each capable of standing on its own—the latter gains depth when viewed as a sequel, especially in Tallie Medel’s evolution of Jackie’s character. The film smoothly transforms the restrained teenage turmoil of the original into a grounded adult neurosis, preserving all its complexity. Medel’s portrayal of Jackie introduces a sharper, more unpredictable edge, evident even in quiet moments of confrontation with Matthew. Sky Hirschkron continues to project an almost defiant composure, his character subtly evolving (perhaps swapping Mueller for “Stoner”) while retaining his essential essence from the first film. Their performances elevate the sequel beyond many of the year’s more conspicuous acting triumphs.
In a Filmmaker interview released alongside “The Unspeakable Act,” Dan Sallitt remarked that he does not regard Jackie’s incestuous yearning as a fleeting phase or merely a step toward adulthood. Rather, he sees it as an intrinsic facet of her identity that she must learn to contain if she wishes to function comfortably, balancing it with other facets of herself. “What Can’t Be Mentioned” builds on this outlook, with Tallie Medel portraying Jackie as someone managing a persistent condition, while Sky Hirschkron conveys Matthew’s sympathetic, albeit unflappable, response to her struggle. The film’s closing scenes capture Sallitt’s evolved perspective on the intervening years—a period marked by uneasy growth that ultimately feels earned. In the end, the narrative suggests that perseverance can occasionally yield the fulfillment one seeks.
Grade: B
The film had its world premiere at the 2026 New York Film Festival and is currently in search of U.S. distribution.
