Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell - English subtitled
Haunting Thai drama in which director Thien An Pham takes viewers on a sensory, meditative trip to the Vietnamese countryside. Winner of the Caméra d'Or (prize for best debut film) at Cannes.
Phạm Thiên An’s daring first feature challenges visual and narrative norms as it follows the footsteps of a young man who must suddenly become caretaker to his nephew.
When a motorcycle accident snatches the life of his sister-in-law, Thiện discovers that his little nephew Đào is left without a guardian. Đào’s father – Thiện’s brother Tam – vanished years before. Hoping to reunite the estranged father and son, Thiện sets off on a journey that becomes as much a spiritual odyssey as a geographic one. He meets new and old acquaintances and grieves different kinds of separations – through death and other partings. As he continues his search, he ponders the bigger, affecting questions that stir inside him, and realizes his wanderings have become about more than just locating his missing brother.
Reflecting Thiện’s psyche in its visual representation and rhythm, INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL pushes the limits of conventional filmmaking. Deliberately avoiding stimulating drama or action, it may be a narratively demanding tale. But this lyrical work invites – and directs – the audience to experience the fluidity of time and space with its slow pace and long takes. The outcome is an experience that aligns the viewers’ own contemplations with that of Thiện’s. (source: www.tiff.net)