This is narrative filmmaking at its finest, a small independent feature heralding the arrival of a new generation of talented young artists out to set new standards for a culture saturated with hackneyed, low-brow entertainment. Here is a new voice arriving at the intersection of commerce and art—a supremely entertaining work of mainstream filmmaking that nonetheless manages to challenge, provoke, and mystify the audience. With a sleek visual style that implies more than it explains and that emulates a literary experience, The Tell is a unique response to the past decade of movies rife with flashy, "in-your-face" postmodernism. It is a surprising revisitation to an age-old belief that a good story well told can engage an audience far more powerfully and with far more resonance than a clichéd film that's all style and no substance.

“Our society is becoming increasingly influenced by the media, which in turn is becoming increasingly influenced by technology. I find that what happens more often than not in our ability to ‘create’ or ‘manufacture’ reality rather than express or reflect it, is that the line between the way life is and the way life can appear by use of special effects or elaborately orchestrated formats is blurred beyond recognition. We see this happening as a result of the ‘reality-TV’ craze, for instance. I see people all the time who are living their lives as if they’re a character on a TV show. What’s worse is that with so-called ‘reality-TV,’ people are now starting to expect their lives to follow the format of a weekly hour-long program, under the misguided understanding that those are real people in real, unaltered, untampered with situations on these shows each week.

“It doesn’t so much point to naiveté or gullibility as it does to being overtaxed by this media saturation. I mean, if all you see and hear everywhere are people and TV shows and films and music that tell you to believe that they are reality, and, perhaps more importantly that appear to be reality, then if you’re not better informed, sooner or later you’re going to start to believe it. The dark side of the spectrum is that for the more sensitive and fragile people living in society, they come to expect life to follow these ‘syndicated’ patterns. And some of them come to believe in it so strongly that the inevitable disappointments can be quite damaging. Some get to the point where they start to believe that the way to solve problems is not through diplomacy but through non-toleration; in essence, through ‘voting someone off the island,’ or even walking into a classroom with a gun and opening fire. This is not to say that media is the sole cause of violence or frustration in the world, but I think the increasing occurrences of violence and frustration do point to a strong correlation in some cases.

“I don’t purport to have any ‘heightened’ answers to the big questions in life, but I do believe that there is a new wind of change that is about to sweep the artistic communities of this country. I think that in a world where our eyes as a nation are being opened up to complexities we were never aware of, and in some cases were not ready or perhaps willing to accept, there is a sentiment that the easy answer is now unsatisfactory. The ‘fortune cookie’ mentality, wherein sound-bytes and easily quotable sayings used to suffice as news stories, as sources of the truth, is no longer enough.

“And with this, I think the general public is ready to accept a more complex way of thinking. The way that a culture expresses this way of thinking has historically, since the beginning of time, been through telling stories. I believe that a new movement of filmmaking which emulates a literary experience—wherein answers are not spelled out for the audience, wherein cinematic technique will actually take a step back to re-establish the vocabulary of cinema, wherein stories will be challenging and will require a more active participation by the viewer—is about to sweep the media scene.

“I think we’re at the end of the age of postmodernism, and on the threshold of a new and appropriate artistic movement for our times. I’m thrilled to be at the front of it. I hope you enjoy what we’re trying to do, starting with this film.”