Surrounded around the dense fog, this film is always in a wet, cold, dark, pouring or misty or cloudy atmosphere with many long shots and several silent scenes at a slowly pace. Since Thien got the news of his sister-in-law Teresa's death, he had fell into the state of sorrow deeply. He took care of his nephew Dao but couldn't reply this little kid's simple questions: What is the "belief"? Where is the "Heaven"? Can you(Thien) take me to the Heaven to see my mother?
At the same time, we can see Thien walking or wandering in the nearly invisible fogs, trying to open up his own self-discovery journey about hunting for his brother Tam. For him, this so-called "God" took away his dearest family Teresa(by a traffic accident) and his lover Thao(by making her to be a nun).
And there are some strange dreams intertwining the reality in a mysterious way, such as Thien found Tam's new wife and their infant in Son Dien, then they went to Tam's house. They didn't find Tam. There were just several rows of yellow cocoon shells in front of Tam's house.
Those indications can point one core question of this film: "Should the existential meaning of human life depend on the God and the religion?" It leads to the simple pursuit of this film: A person who pursues the meaning of life grows from living in religiosity(like social and collective rituals or any forms) to living in spirituality(like ultimate personal salvation). That is, as the title of this film, I think "something inside the yellow cocoon shell" is Thien's lost soul (as the old lady's saying). Through one of his dreams, it reveals subconsciously as the symbol of his missing brother.
At the last scene, Thien lay down in the small river, resting at ease, peacefully. It seems that he finally found his answers from the dreams. Although the searching is fruitless, his soul is still gradually recovering.
At the same time, we can see Thien walking or wandering in the nearly invisible fogs, trying to open up his own self-discovery journey about hunting for his brother Tam. For him, this so-called "God" took away his dearest family Teresa(by a traffic accident) and his lover Thao(by making her to be a nun).
And there are some strange dreams intertwining the reality in a mysterious way, such as Thien found Tam's new wife and their infant in Son Dien, then they went to Tam's house. They didn't find Tam. There were just several rows of yellow cocoon shells in front of Tam's house.
Those indications can point one core question of this film: "Should the existential meaning of human life depend on the God and the religion?" It leads to the simple pursuit of this film: A person who pursues the meaning of life grows from living in religiosity(like social and collective rituals or any forms) to living in spirituality(like ultimate personal salvation). That is, as the title of this film, I think "something inside the yellow cocoon shell" is Thien's lost soul (as the old lady's saying). Through one of his dreams, it reveals subconsciously as the symbol of his missing brother.
At the last scene, Thien lay down in the small river, resting at ease, peacefully. It seems that he finally found his answers from the dreams. Although the searching is fruitless, his soul is still gradually recovering.