Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

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'.

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!

I don't see the point of reviewers who say a movie like this is slow and boring, and "nothing happens." (If you want a movie where indeed nothing happens, try "Goodbye, Dragon Inn.") Sure, there are longueurs, and not all the plot choices are good ones. But there is a quiet beauty about this film, and it is at its best deeply pleasurable. Some of the scenes and framing are like pictures in a museum. The uncertainties of time, place, and characters I often find annoying in other films are less irksome here. I think viewers who appreciative this kind of slow-paced movie, and are less concerned about a pulsing plot than an absorbing sensory experience, will like it.

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!

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.