(Pham Tien An, 2023, Vietnam, 179 minutes)

A hit on the festival circuit last year—Cannes (where it won the Camera d’Or), Toronto, New York—and dubbed “the year’s first masterpiece” this year by the Daily Beast and garnering a Critic’s Pick designation from the New York Times, Pham Tien An’s debut feature Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is a film worth getting excited about. The plot hinges on Thien (Le Phong Vu), whose sister-in-law’s unexpected death lands his five-year-old nephew Dao in his care. Thien seeks Dao’s father, Thien’s long-missing older brother, and in the process of finding him both linearity of plot and the line between reality and dream begin to blur. Press materials suggest that Pham Tien An’s nearest comparison is Thai master Apichatpong Weerasethakul, but in reality you’ll find him an invigorating case where comparisons can be drawn to others—a whiff of Jia Zhangke here, a vibe of Bi Gan there—but ultimately he’s forging his own path in a deeply exciting way.

In Vietnamese with English subtitles.