Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Finding meaning and purpose in life can be a long and solitary journey, especially if one doesn't know how or where to look. So it is for a single, lonely thirtysomething seeker (Le Phong Vu) living in Saigon after moving there from his rural mountain village after most of his family emigrates to America. He feels empty and lost as he looks for a suitable path to follow, but nothing turns up, leaving him increasingly adrift and unfulfilled. However, when a family tragedy occurs, he must return home to pay final respects to a deceased loved one with his young, orphaned nephew (Nguyen Thinh) in tow. The journey thus becomes a metaphor for his search, an absorbing meditation on life, love, death, finding oneself and letting go of old ghosts from the past, including an old flame (Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh) who now has a more serious commitment. This odyssey is fittingly depicted cinematically with a series of long tracking shots and deliberately slow pacing to emphasize the extended time it takes to make such a measured, thoughtful and revelatory passage, one beautifully enhanced by positively gorgeous cinematography. It's the kind of film that gives similarly situated viewers much to think about, particularly given that they're likely to relate to the circumstances of their on-screen counterpart. However, writer-director Thien An Pham's debut film - winner of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival's Golden Camera Award for best premiere feature - could benefit handsomely from some judicious editing, especially in the second half. While this release is definitely a feast for the eyes, some sequences nevertheless go on needlessly long and could have been cut by about 20-30 minutes to reduce its patience-trying three-hour runtime. This shortcoming aside, though, "Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell" gives audiences a revealing look at the work of a gifted new talent with tremendous potential, one who successfully brings both beauty and inspiration to an insightful finished product. As trite as it may seem, finding our place in the cosmos rests more with the journey than the destination, as the protagonist discovers for himself, a realization many of us can no doubt relate to.

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell won the Camera d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and after viewing it, I can see why.

It's a extremely beautiful looking movie with strong direction from Pham Thien An, great sound designs, and interesting themes and concepts explored within the movie. The themes about Vietnamese culture, souls, loss and reconnection are explored throughout as Thein An captures the tone, atmosphere and environment with his directing style and approaches onto the narrative. Many of the camerawork, soundtrack, sound designs and the uses of the performances from the cast are visually breathtaking and felt realistic.

Many of the dialogue moments is pretty strange but it felt like a spiritual experience or poetic style of writing that felt purposeful and fits the setting within the characters and story. For a run-time of 182 minutes, it is slow and it will be tough for many viewers but I personally was observed and invested throughout understanding the hidden meanings and the life styles of Vietnamese culture and the themes explored.

Overall, it's a refreshing to see more Vietnamese cinema.

I grabbed my first chance to see this film in the cinema on a big screen. The film is a wonder in so many aspects and definitely live up to its Camera d'Or at Cannes, and also my own expectation. I love how realistic and organic every scene is about the daily life in Vietnam from the big city to the rural area. The first half deceived me a bit into thinking how simple the film had been and then it went on to astonish me with its dreamlike second half, so mesmerizing and even haunting. There are just so many brilliant scenes. The scene of the fighting roosters in early morning is simply a masterful in long take but also a brief scene, like of the buffaloes blocking the road is immediately thought provoking. That ending is above all, to me simply perfect. It's just so wonderful I would love to meet the filmmakers and shake hand with all of them :)

This is a truly magical and spiritual movie. The main character is literally a magician who shares the same name as the filmmaker, so it's safe to say he's the magician here. There's hardly a simple shot in this film that stays simple for long; just as you settle into a composition and setting, it transforms into something else. You find yourself wondering what else is in store, and it never disappoints-it gets more magical with every second. There are so many long takes that seem absolutely impossible to pull off, and the narrative tools are used masterfully. You might call it poetic realism, magical realism, or even epic banal, but nothing happens randomly in this movie. Everything feels precise while also being spontaneous and surreal.

While many hyped films and well-known filmmakers are racking up awards for cinematography each year, I'd argue that this is the real achievement as a first feature from two Vietnamese collaborators: director Thien An Pham and cinematographer Dinh Duy Hung, who have only made two short films prior to this. The level of craft, skill, talent, and precision in this movie is just unbelievable.

In terms of filmmaking style, you can see influences from renowned directors like Abbas Kiarostami, Michael Haneke, and Carl Theodor Dreyer. These filmmakers often take a minimalistic approach in their storytelling, camera techniques, and overall craft. They also use naturalistic dialogue and long takes with non-professional actors-qualities you can see reflected in this film. And it's not just about visuals and sound design; many dialogues sound simple but are incredibly profound. Often, these dialogues are visually understated yet meaningfully elevated by the environment and surrounding sounds. The filmmaker draws inspiration not only from cinema but also from other art forms like Chinese scroll paintings and photography.

From the very first scene, this movie sets the mood and themes for everything that follows. It explores searching for meaning in life, the impermanence of existence, loss and grief, faith and spirituality, memory and nostalgia, family connections, cultural identity, and ultimately a quest for self or personal identity, a journey of self-discovery.

What's holding me back from giving it a solid 9 or 10 are a few things. If it were an hour shorter, it could easily be one of my favorite movies of the year. The last hour has some scenes that don't really contribute to the plot or character development; they feel like they're just there for the sake of being there. Also, while most dialogues are simple yet beautiful and profound, some come off as too expositional and heavy-handed with the themes. But the biggest reason is that the film feels emotionally distant. While it follows the style of filmmakers like Kiarostami, that doesn't mean it couldn't evolve and deepen its emotional resonance-though it does push their sensibilities forward in other ways.

All that being said, watching this movie was an exceptional experience that reminded me of what cinema can be and do-especially from emerging artists with fresh voices. Do yourself a favor and watch this film; it's a must-see!

Watching this film feels like sitting for three hours in a sauna waiting for something that never comes and that I don't even care about.

Usually, I love contemplative film where nothing happens. But it should come with a mastery in mise en scene, and a certain sobriety. Artistic boldness should still hold the audience for the duration to the very end. Yet this film offers nothing beyond its self-indulgent ravishing photography. The filmmaker clearly wants to inflict suffering on the viewer, but this experience is purposeless. And this sense of purposelessness, which one may assume is the philosophical meaning that the film tries to suggesst, is forced upon the viewer through half-hearted dialogue. In fact, the dialogue didn't hold enough attention in relating to the material around it to make it interesting.

It's simply an international coproduction by a Vietnamese filmmaker indented for highbrow international critics and festivals, made for the sake of being clever and 'cinephile'.