Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
After Blue (Bertrand Mandico)
In the post-apocalyptic nightmare of After Blue, humanity—or what’s left of it—roams a former paradise turned wasteland. The Armageddon that wrecked the Earth in some undetermined past left no machines behind, no screens, and, perhaps most conspicuously, no men. In the distant planet the human race fled to, and which writer-director Bertrand Mandico’s film is named after, “they were the first to die,” we’re warned early on: “their hairs grew inside them, and killed them.” As it was for its predecessor, The Wild Boys, After Blue is suffused in a feverish ecstasy, that wild excitement that comes from a watching one world crumble and another jutting into being from scratch, a vision of...
After Blue (Bertrand Mandico)
In the post-apocalyptic nightmare of After Blue, humanity—or what’s left of it—roams a former paradise turned wasteland. The Armageddon that wrecked the Earth in some undetermined past left no machines behind, no screens, and, perhaps most conspicuously, no men. In the distant planet the human race fled to, and which writer-director Bertrand Mandico’s film is named after, “they were the first to die,” we’re warned early on: “their hairs grew inside them, and killed them.” As it was for its predecessor, The Wild Boys, After Blue is suffused in a feverish ecstasy, that wild excitement that comes from a watching one world crumble and another jutting into being from scratch, a vision of...
- 3/22/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Growing up, Vietnamese writer and director Pham Thien An didn’t envision becoming a filmmaker. Eventually, the prospect of capturing moving images as a career path did reveal itself to him, but in unexpected fashion: as a trade. Only later did his professional dream evolve into a transcendent, creed-affirming artistic endeavor.
That’s already started to pay off for the budding star. An’s transfixing, three-hour film “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” won the Camera D’Or, an award honoring the best first feature, at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. For An, who was raised Catholic, the creation of this imposing debut intertwined with the strengthening of his religious beliefs.
“It was faith that guided me through the process of taking filmmaking seriously,” An told IndieWire during a recent video interview speaking via an interpreter. “It was a blessing to get the chance to direct a film like this.
That’s already started to pay off for the budding star. An’s transfixing, three-hour film “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” won the Camera D’Or, an award honoring the best first feature, at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. For An, who was raised Catholic, the creation of this imposing debut intertwined with the strengthening of his religious beliefs.
“It was faith that guided me through the process of taking filmmaking seriously,” An told IndieWire during a recent video interview speaking via an interpreter. “It was a blessing to get the chance to direct a film like this.
- 2/6/2024
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
The Last Wife by Victor Vu is one of those films that makes you feel like you are watching an adaptation of a half-baked novel, but one that’s been made better by Victor Vu’s vision. Everything in the movie points towards melodrama, but the heightened emotions are necessary to get the point across. Themes like love, corruption, and debauchery need this elevated delivery, and The Last Wife proves that it has the means to deliver the goods. The performances are pitch-perfect, and the pacing of the film is very calming, taking us back to the period the film is set in.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Linh, the third wife of Governor Duc Trong, had a miserable existence. She was almost reduced to the role of a concubine, but the governor needed another child out of her. She received floggings for minor mistakes, and...
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Linh, the third wife of Governor Duc Trong, had a miserable existence. She was almost reduced to the role of a concubine, but the governor needed another child out of her. She received floggings for minor mistakes, and...
- 2/4/2024
- by Ayush Awasthi
- Film Fugitives
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.All too frequently, the reception of recent Asian arthouse films at international festivals showcases an ambiguous predicament. When encountering new films—usually in the sidebars of Cannes, Venice, or the Berlinale—Western critics tend to resort to a repetitious discourse, conveniently labeling the films and making easy comparisons to the canon of the 1990s and 2000s. The pattern goes like this: meditative sonic sequences or notions of reincarnation become instant echoes of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s work, any neon extravaganza immediately points to Wong Kar Wai, and Tsai Ming-liang is a recurring reference whenever a film abounds in still long shots. In a sense, these touchstones and comparisons are all valid—these older filmmakers conceived cinematic miracles and attempted to redefine the boundaries of film art, and therefore have influenced many artists of the next generation.However, it isn’t difficult to find this labeling tendency to be ectypal Orientalization.
- 1/30/2024
- MUBI
Vietnamese director Pham Thien An’s debut feature Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell juxtaposes moments of great importance with the moment-by-moment stasis of everyday life. An has a terrific eye: the film’s colors are bright and vivid, popping off the screen. Using very long takes, he reframes the image so that a character can appear both in close-up and long shot.
In its opening scene, Thien (Le Phang Vu) watches a soccer game with two friends while debating the meaning of life. As costumed mascots and women selling beer walk by, the stakes seem pretty low, but the scene ends with a sudden motorbike crash. Thien’s sister-in-law is killed, while her 5-year-old daughter survives. (All of this is filmed in one take, with the camera moving to take in the street where this accident happens.) He’s tasked with taking care of the girl, returning from Saigon to...
In its opening scene, Thien (Le Phang Vu) watches a soccer game with two friends while debating the meaning of life. As costumed mascots and women selling beer walk by, the stakes seem pretty low, but the scene ends with a sudden motorbike crash. Thien’s sister-in-law is killed, while her 5-year-old daughter survives. (All of this is filmed in one take, with the camera moving to take in the street where this accident happens.) He’s tasked with taking care of the girl, returning from Saigon to...
- 1/18/2024
- by Steve Erickson
- The Film Stage
Early into Pham Thien An’s sprawling, stupefying Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, there’s a shot that manifests Caravaggio inside a shack in rural Vietnam. Having traveled from Saigon to his home village to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law, Thien (Le Phong Vu) is visiting a local elder who sowed a shroud for the departed. The twenty-something wants to pay for the service; the old man doesn’t take money from neighbors. He does accept the company, though, and very generously spills a whole cascade of memories from the Vietnam War, laying bare an old bullet scar on his ribcage. And as Thien bends to graze the bruised skin under the warm, caliginous light, Pham frames the moment as one of reverential awe, an image modeled off of Caravaggio’s “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas.” It’s a beautiful shot in a film full of them. That it...
- 1/17/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
by Vedant Srinivas
Epic in both length and scope, “Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell”, Vietnamese writer-director Thien An Pham's debut feature, and the winner of this year's Camera d'Or prize at Cannes, offers a striking meditation on faith, love, and the beguiling nature of earthly existence.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is screening at Qcinema
The very first scene in “Yellow Cocoon”' sets up the encounter between spiritual and corporeal existence: sandwiched between a believer and an atheist, Thien voices his agnostic thoughts about the existence of a higher power (“I want to believe but I can't”). As if on cue, a sudden gust of wind blows across, and their discussion is interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle collision. Later, it will turn out that the person who died in the freak accident was none other than Thien's sister-in-law Hanh, while his five-old nephew, Dhao, remained miraculously unharmed.
Epic in both length and scope, “Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell”, Vietnamese writer-director Thien An Pham's debut feature, and the winner of this year's Camera d'Or prize at Cannes, offers a striking meditation on faith, love, and the beguiling nature of earthly existence.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is screening at Qcinema
The very first scene in “Yellow Cocoon”' sets up the encounter between spiritual and corporeal existence: sandwiched between a believer and an atheist, Thien voices his agnostic thoughts about the existence of a higher power (“I want to believe but I can't”). As if on cue, a sudden gust of wind blows across, and their discussion is interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle collision. Later, it will turn out that the person who died in the freak accident was none other than Thien's sister-in-law Hanh, while his five-old nephew, Dhao, remained miraculously unharmed.
- 12/23/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
No One can fully Empathize with the Soul…It is beyond Human Comprehension
Old Woman in the Film
Some films take you on a journey whether you like it or not and then there are films that slowly invite you to join in as the main character embarks on a journey. The latter is more powerful as we are choosing to do so. Thien An Pham‘s directorial feature debut Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell falls into this space. An Pham takes us on a spiritual journey by exploring rural Vietnam with themes relating to life, death, love, desire, loss, and regrets as he beautifully captures the tone, atmosphere, and environment with his observational directing style. The story is simple and at times takes a back seat but the stunning visuals and the experiences that change the main character can be very reflective to the audience.
The film kicks off...
Old Woman in the Film
Some films take you on a journey whether you like it or not and then there are films that slowly invite you to join in as the main character embarks on a journey. The latter is more powerful as we are choosing to do so. Thien An Pham‘s directorial feature debut Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell falls into this space. An Pham takes us on a spiritual journey by exploring rural Vietnam with themes relating to life, death, love, desire, loss, and regrets as he beautifully captures the tone, atmosphere, and environment with his observational directing style. The story is simple and at times takes a back seat but the stunning visuals and the experiences that change the main character can be very reflective to the audience.
The film kicks off...
- 12/19/2023
- by Prem
- Talking Films
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSNotebook readers, rejoice—the Mubi Shop has launched anew in the US and UK, and you can finally broadcast your love for the world’s sharpest international film criticism via this stylish, crisply screen-printed Notebook tote bag, featuring a clapperboard calligram design. Also in the store is a Cannes Film Festival–themed print by Dutch artist and cartoonist Joost Swarte, which was commissioned for our limited-edition print broadsheet issue of Notebook, distributed in Cannes.Sundance announced its lineup last week, including new films from Jane Schoenbrun, Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, Yance Ford, Brett Story, and more. This will be the first Sundance under the directorship of Eugene Hernandez, formerly of Film at Lincoln Center.Keep that winter coat handy—the Berlinale has announced that Lupita Nyong’o will lead the jury.
- 12/13/2023
- MUBI
"The existence of faith is ambiguous." Kino Lorber has revealed the official US trailer for an indie film from Vietnam titled Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, which won the Camera d'Or award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival for Best First Film. Marking the feature directorial debut of Vietnamese filmmaker Thien An Pham, this premiered in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar at Cannes & played at many prestigious festivals throughout the year. It already opened in Vietnam in August. A man returns to his hometown, where he's haunted by past memories and desires. The film is three hours long and heralded by critics as a new voice in the "slow cinema" genre. "This enthralling debut from Vietnamese filmmaker Thien An Pham is a reverie on faith, loss, and nature expressed with uncommon invention and depth." As Thien battles with the existential question of what is worth living for, the film interrogates the persistence and complexity of faith,...
- 12/7/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the most shocking debut features I saw this year––in the sense that it was more accomplished than most other films of 2023––was that of Phạm Thiên Ân, whose Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is an evocative, beautiful tale. Winner of the Camera d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, as well as a TIFF and NYFF selection, the film will now arrive in theaters on January 19 from Kino Lorber. Ahead of the release, the first U.S. trailer and poster have been released.
Here’s the synopsis: “The sudden death of his sister-in-law brings unexpected responsibilities to Thien (Le Phong Vu), who is reluctantly tasked with bringing his five-year-old nephew Dao to their countryside hometown. On the road, Thien is drawn into a search for his long-missing older brother, haunted and spurred forward by a series of sublime dreams that reignite suppressed memories, forbidden desires, and specters of his own youth.
Here’s the synopsis: “The sudden death of his sister-in-law brings unexpected responsibilities to Thien (Le Phong Vu), who is reluctantly tasked with bringing his five-year-old nephew Dao to their countryside hometown. On the road, Thien is drawn into a search for his long-missing older brother, haunted and spurred forward by a series of sublime dreams that reignite suppressed memories, forbidden desires, and specters of his own youth.
- 12/7/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
At the heart of Pham Tien An’s sprawling feature debut, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, is a protagonist so unmoored from his surroundings that he looks forever on the cusp of floating away at the slightest breeze. Thien (Le Phong Vu) first appears sitting in an outdoor café in Saigon with a few friends, a local pickup game of soccer playing out to his right and the patrons behind him cheering on a televised professional match in between bites of food. Ignoring the hubbub around him, Thien asks his friends about matters of faith but looks uninterested in his own topic, zoning out as others talk about their religious beliefs.
Thien is so alienated from his environment that when a motorcycle crashes next to the café, he’s one of the few people in the vicinity who doesn’t react, remaining seated as others head over to survey the damage.
Thien is so alienated from his environment that when a motorcycle crashes next to the café, he’s one of the few people in the vicinity who doesn’t react, remaining seated as others head over to survey the damage.
- 9/7/2023
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
Kino Lorber has snatched up North American rights to Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the mesmerizing first feature from Vietnamese director Pham Thien An, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section in Cannes this year, where it won the Camera d’Or for best directorial debut.
The film fulfills the promise shown in Pham’s acclaimed shorts, including 2019 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight winner Stay Awake, Be Ready, which was the inspiration for Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.
The film follows Thien (Le Phong Vu), a prodigal son with little direction in his life who, after his sister-in-law dies in a freak motorcycle accident, is tasked with delivering her body, and his 5-year-old nephew Dao, who miraculously survived the crash, back to their countryside hometown. Thus begins a journey across the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, a journey back into Thien’s own past and a search for his long-missing older brother,...
The film fulfills the promise shown in Pham’s acclaimed shorts, including 2019 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight winner Stay Awake, Be Ready, which was the inspiration for Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.
The film follows Thien (Le Phong Vu), a prodigal son with little direction in his life who, after his sister-in-law dies in a freak motorcycle accident, is tasked with delivering her body, and his 5-year-old nephew Dao, who miraculously survived the crash, back to their countryside hometown. Thus begins a journey across the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, a journey back into Thien’s own past and a search for his long-missing older brother,...
- 7/6/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Justine Triet’s complex drama “Anatomy of a Fall” has won the Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, a jury headed by director Ruben Ostlund announced on Saturday evening in France. Jane Fonda presented the award to Triet, who became only the third woman to win the Palme, after Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993 and Julia Ducournau for “Titane” in 2021.
The film was acquired by Neon during the festival, which makes it the fourth consecutive Palme for that company after “Parasite,” “Titane” and “The Triangle of Sadness.”
“Part thorny family story, part whodunit, part courtroom drama and part meditation on the nature of truth and fiction, Justine Triet’s ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ takes two hours of conversations and makes them both provocative and propulsive,” wrote TheWrap in its review.
The Grand Prix, which is essentially Cannes’ second-place award, was given to the chilling Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest...
The film was acquired by Neon during the festival, which makes it the fourth consecutive Palme for that company after “Parasite,” “Titane” and “The Triangle of Sadness.”
“Part thorny family story, part whodunit, part courtroom drama and part meditation on the nature of truth and fiction, Justine Triet’s ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ takes two hours of conversations and makes them both provocative and propulsive,” wrote TheWrap in its review.
The Grand Prix, which is essentially Cannes’ second-place award, was given to the chilling Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest...
- 5/27/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
All of life, including death, is in the lengthy, unbroken shot that opens Thien An Pham’s bewitching debut feature “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.” We begin on the sidelines of a local soccer match in Saigon’s city center, observing the play from a cool distance before following a shuffling mascot, dressed in a wolf suit, to the adjoining bar. There, crowds watch a 2018 World Cup fixture while a group of young men, turned from the TV, drink and discuss matters of faith, existence and ennui. Thien (Le Phong Vu) is quiet and morose, only half-invested in a conversation already beset with distractions: the sales pitch of a bubbly beer rep, the burst of a sudden summer thunderstorm, a metallic screech and grim thump as the camera again drifts serenely over to reveal the aftermath of a fatal motorcycle crash. In the ensuing rhubarb of bystander concern, Thien stays put.
- 5/25/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Kino Lorber releases the film in theaters on Friday, January 19.
An intimate three-hour epic of deliberate pacing, Vietnamese writer-director Thien An Pham’s debut feature, “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” is a spellbinding tale of the soul’s unfathomable desire for the other-worldly, that does itself border on transcendental in its filmmaking and gradual blurring of apparent truth and suggested fantasy.
The film premiered in the Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section, where the filmmaker was previously recipient of the Illy Prize in 2019 for the short “Stay Awake, Be Ready,” in which a roadside accident at a street corner interrupted a conversation between three friends having a meal. That short seems loosely remade for the new feature’s opening scene, which expands the idea to explore a man’s attempted overcoming of a deeply unsatisfied life, taking him from...
An intimate three-hour epic of deliberate pacing, Vietnamese writer-director Thien An Pham’s debut feature, “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” is a spellbinding tale of the soul’s unfathomable desire for the other-worldly, that does itself border on transcendental in its filmmaking and gradual blurring of apparent truth and suggested fantasy.
The film premiered in the Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section, where the filmmaker was previously recipient of the Illy Prize in 2019 for the short “Stay Awake, Be Ready,” in which a roadside accident at a street corner interrupted a conversation between three friends having a meal. That short seems loosely remade for the new feature’s opening scene, which expands the idea to explore a man’s attempted overcoming of a deeply unsatisfied life, taking him from...
- 5/24/2023
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- Indiewire
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