Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

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.

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 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 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 :)

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!