The question of what the title means, or what the movie means, remain open; even so, this is a quietly amazing feature debut from 34-year-old Thien An Pham, born in Vietnam and based in Houston, Texas. It’s a jewel of slow cinema set initially in Saigon and then the mountainous, lush central highlands far from the city; it is a zero-gravity epic quest, floating towards its strange narrative destiny and then maybe floating up over that to something else. It’s compassionate, intimate, spiritual and mysterious in ways that reminded me of Tsai Ming-liang or Edward Yang.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is presented in a calm, unforced realist style with many long, unbroken middle-distance shots, with closeups a rarity. There is a flashback and a dream-sequence presented in exactly the same way, leading to the woozy feeling that past and present, reality and reverie are all folding in on each other. The refusal of explicit emotion does not prevent one fiercely erotic kissing scene, or a moment where a young woman declares her adoration for Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life and wonders aloud: “Why can’t they make movies like that any more?” I can actually imagine Bob Rafelson making this film in 1972 (at half the length) with the same narrative structure, the same elements of midlife male crisis and regret.
