Jackie is a social worker in training picking at the knots of her own unresolved issues.

Twentysomething Brooklynites Mara and Jo have been close friends since middle school. Gradually, it becomes apparent that the increasingly unstable Jo has troubles that may be the result of substance abuse, or an even deeper problem. Over the course of a decade, the more stable Mara tries to help.

One of the American cinema’s best-kept secrets, writer-director Sallitt has been steadily building up a devoted following among film critics, many of whom consider THE UNSPEAKABLE ACT to be his breakthrough film. Set in Brooklyn, the story centers on 17-year-old Jackie (Medel in a radiant performance), who enjoys a close relationship with her older brother Matthew and candidly expresses her desire to take it to the next level (or, as she calls it, “the I-word”). Matthew’s departure for college leaves Jackie in a limbo between arrested development and risky maturity. Dedicated to Eric Rohmer and compared by critics to J.D. Salinger, Sallitt’s film treats its touchy subject with subtle wit and psychological insight.