A sixteen-year-old cares for his sick grandmother and starts to develop uncomfortable feelings for his sister in Agata Trzebuchowska’s directorial debut, SICK, presented at Fantastic Fest 2026.
TW: Taboo sexual items
Presented at Fantastic Fest 2026 in Austin, Sick is a film bound to spark discussion. The “sick” in the title refers to the literal illness of Maks’s grandmother as he cares for her, but it also extends to how the world (justly) reacts to the growing incestuous feelings Maks has toward his sister, who is also present, and even to the atmosphere of the house they live in. Sick, written and directed in a directorial debut by Agata Trzebuchowska, is a twisted tale of growing up, claiming and understanding feelings, wondering if thoughts are misplaced or natural. Sick has a fantastically unsettling atmosphere, though the film left me cold overall.
Exploring taboos in media is a fascinating venture, and Agata Trzebuchowska, best known to American audiences as Ana in the mesmerizing 2015 film Ida, does so through teenage Maks and his shift from adolescence to adulthood as he cares for his grandmother in a dilapidated Polish manse. He’s unwilling to do so, taking over for his cousin, but the family connection forces him. And what else is he to do? Listless and lonely, he does little else but hang out in the formerly grand home of his youth (a metaphor for growing up and seeing things in a different way, perhaps?). When his slightly older sister, Emma, joins him, it gets complicated. Part of being sixteen and the drive of that age: lonely, and mostly alone in a stifling heat with fewer clothes and more sweat, Maks starts to have strange feelings. And maybe she does too? It’s a fascinating but difficult and highly taboo subject. Tzebuchowka has a keen interest in crafting characters confused about their own feelings and trying to sort it all out, with no real outlet to debate and discuss; instead, bouncing around the boundaries, they begin to break down.
However, I couldn’t quite connect with it. It’s a fascinating and uncomfortable idea. Of course, the story’s central concept is the siblings circling around their unconventional feelings and whether they act on them. The central issue is that the pair never feel like siblings to me. There’s not much chemistry between the leads, sexual or sibling; strangers acting together. Each performer, Katarzyna Lubik for Emma and Konrad Kakol for Maks, moves through blandly and dryly, lacking emotion and personal connection. This may be on purpose, directly dulling emotion to represent stunted lives and maturity, but as it is, if I can’t parse it, I have to take it at face value. I honestly wanted to know what was going on with Gramma. Spending most of the movie infirm and sick, then better and perhaps chatting about what’s going on, or maybe even working it, she’s a bit too enigmatic.
Yet, the atmosphere is thick; even outside my criticisms above, I love the way it looked and felt; it’s hot and sick. Unsettling. The summer doldrums, oppressive heat, and sickly air come across the medium, helping the unsettling feeling of watching the pair and their grandmother. The cinematography sets so much, moving around the decrepit home, the darkness, and the heat. It’s a stifling, isolated feel that creates a movie of emotional isolation and turmoil, with the external filming reflecting the internal issues.
Ultimately, Sick, written and directed by Agata Trzebuchowska, is a bit drab and emotionally flat when the building tension of taboo sexual thoughts rises. There’s enough to offer in the look and atmosphere, and the inherent story is fascinating and compelling; but the execution didn’t quite land for me.
Sick is presented as part of Fantastic Fest 2026, running in Austin, Texas from September 17 through 24th.