With an exacting intelligence, a hyper-articulate quality that brings to mind the characters of American systems novels, Dan Sallitt’s The Unspeakable Act meditates on the burgeoning mutual attraction of two Brooklyn siblings in a manner that, while leaving many unsettled, has already marked his third feature as a potential breakout for the critic-filmmaker. The scions of an old-school Brooklyn bohemian writer, Jackie Kimball and Matthew Kimball (Tallie Medel and Sky Hirschkron) have long harbored a forbidden desire for one another, although it is most intensely felt on Jackie’s side. Medel’s big green eyes under dark, foreboding bangs fill in all the gaps […]
by Brandon Harris on Feb 27, 2013Catering to virtually every niche, Berlin offers some 70 film festivals each year. Since 2009, the first on the calendar has been the Unknown Pleasures Festival. Held during the first two weeks of January at the historic Babylon Cinema in former East Berlin, it is a work of love run entirely by three enthusiasts of US independent cinema, providing a sorely needed platform for recent American arthouse films. This year’s edition opened on a disappointing note with the German premiere of Michel Gondry’s The We and the I. Typically saccharine and contrived, Gondry’s latest portrays a group of Bronx teens […]
by Giovanni Marchini Camia on Jan 17, 2013The filmmaker and critic Dan Sallitt has created some uncompromising, beautiful films over the years; from his feature debut All The Ships At Sea to the Honeymoon, Sallitt has examined the intersection of intimacy and personal identity with thrilling results. His latest film, The Unspeakable Act, which examines the incestuous sexual desire of a young woman named Jackie (Tallie Medel), had its World Premiere at the recent Sarasota Film Festival (where I serve as Director) and will be screened at the upcoming BAMcinemaFest on Sunday, June 24th. Filmmaker: I wanted to ask you about the issue of desire. The Unspeakable […]
by Tom Hall on Jun 23, 2012