Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

2023 2h 59m VI

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 60

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After a Vietnamese woman dies in a car crash in Saigon, her brother-in-law and her young son transport her body back to the former’s hometown in rural Vietnam, where they plan to give her a funeral.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Le Phong Vu
Thien
Nguyen Thinh
Dao
Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh
Sister Thao
Vu Ngoc Manh
Trung
Dylan Besseau
Hunh
Phi Điểu
The Old Lady
Nguyen Van Lu'u
Mr. Luu
Mạnh Cường
The Priest

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Phạm Thiên Ân
Writers: Phạm Thiên Ân
Languages: Vietnamese
Countries: France, Singapore, Spain, Vietnam, Netherlands

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 179 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 5 countries: France, Singapore, Spain, Vietnam, Netherlands.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Phạm Thiên Ân, shot by Dinh Duy Hung. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Phạm Thiên Ân shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Le Phong Vu and Nguyen Thinh and Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt10399622 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 60 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Phạm Thiên Ân directs. Dinh Duy Hung behind the camera. Phạm Thiên Ân cuts. A long sit — settle in. Produced in France, Singapore, Spain, Vietnam, Netherlands. Dialogue in Vietnamese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 179 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Released 3 years ago.
3International production across 5 countries: France, Singapore, Spain, Vietnam, Netherlands.
4Directed by Phạm Thiên Ân, shot by Dinh Duy Hung. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Phạm Thiên Ân shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Le Phong Vu and Nguyen Thinh and Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt10399622 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 60 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dinh Duy Hung
Editing: Phạm Thiên Ân
Production design: Phạm Thiên Ân
VFX supervisor: Lee Stringer
Sound: Xander Toh
Runtime: 179 min · 2h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $271,725
Original language: VI
IMDB: Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023)

Awards

Caméra d'Or

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Phạm Thiên Ân

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Brent Marchant2024-04-01
★ 7/10
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.

Production companies