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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'.

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 don't buy any of this arty nonsense about "life", "faith", "death" etc. All I know is that Thien An Pham's 'Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell' was 3 hours of my life I'll never get back, and anybody thinking of watching it would be well-advised to find something else. The film starts with a good idea, a sudden death, a bereaved relative, a search for meaning ... but then the central character Thien played by Le Phong Vu goes on an aimless odyssey through rural Vietnam in search of God-knows-what? For me, at least, the film could use basic editing and a narrative device. Tell a proper story why don't you? It's not without charm in places (for example, his chance meeting at a road stop with an old lady (Nsnd Phi Dieu) who sounds very wise, and the relationship between Thien and the orphaned son of his sister-in-law Dao (Nguyen Thinh) is quite touching), but is largely spoilt by having no clear purpose or pace. You can't really apply a 'one-take' mentality to a travelogue feature, it's just too slow. Magic Realism? Pah! And pointing a camera at something doesn't necessarily make for good camera work either, whatever the subject, certainly not the Caméra d'Or ("Golden Camera") the film was apparently awarded at Cannes 2023. And don't kid yourself the things will get better over time, they certainly don't. 'Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell' is a long drawn-out borefest and is frankly best avoided. The emperor really has no clothes!

This film exposed me to the calm and simple life in rural Vietnam. This is definitely not an easy watch, and I'd recommend viewers to appreciate the serene narrative set within a dilemmatic situation.

I've not experienced Vietnamese culture, but I do get a rough idea of its relevance growing up in Southeast Asia. Majority of the film's scenes have a tranquil backdrop, yet it's inhabitants are constantly challenged with the realities of life.

To sit in a dark cinema for 3 hours observing the slow pace of life while contemplating the hidden meanings within the structures and nuances of life as a young Vietnamese, I feel refreshed and grateful for this cinematic experience.

Watching Thien An Pham's debut film, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, I was immediately captivated by a journey that, for me, feels less like a movie and more like a meditative experience. It's a slow-cinema gem that invites you to float through an ethereal Vietnamese landscape, exploring grief, spirituality, and the search for meaning in a deeply personal and mysterious way, bringing to mind masters like Tsai Ming-liang.

The cinematography by Dinh Duy Hung is just stunning, capturing the natural beauty of rural Vietnam with exquisite detail. The camera moves with the slow, deliberate pace of a cargo ship, using long, continuous shots that force you to absorb the world alongside Thien, feeling the minutes pass as he rides his scooter through green hills and dirt roads. This refusal to use quick cuts or dramatic close-ups creates a sense of immersion that you rarely see in modern cinema.

The story, which unfolds in a realistic style, blurs the lines between past and present, reality and daydream. Thien's interactions with a few key characters, like the regretful old soldier and the nun from his past, aren't just plot points-they're reflections on mortality, guilt, and the search for decency. The film's refusal to give you easy answers invites you to fill in the gaps with your own thoughts, turning the silence and long shots into moments of real introspection. The movie is deeply involved with Vietnamese Christianity, but it never suggests that the truth lies in just one belief, instead using religion as a way to explore the spiritual landscape.

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is a masterpiece of art-house cinema, a film that demands patience and commitment from the viewer. If you're looking for an experience that takes you on a spiritual trip, that rewards contemplation, and that uses filmmaking in a masterful way to create a hypnotic atmosphere, then it's absolutely worth watching. It's a film for those who are willing to be guided on a journey that isn't in a hurry to get to the end, but finds beauty and depth in every step of the way. However, if you're looking for a fast-paced story, a plot with clear answers, or a film that follows traditional rules, this movie might be a frustrating experience. It's a meditation on life, death, and time, and its value lies in its ability to make you slow down and just be.