Liu Jian’s ironically titled animated film might best be described as a bleakly comic gangster tale, depicting a series of disasters that follow from the theft of a bundle of money belonging to a crime boss—nicknamed Uncle Liu—by an underling who wants to pay for his girlfriend’s cosmetic surgery. Uncle, who is introduced as he casually tortures an old friend, instructs his personal hitman to track down the traitor, but the thief has already been robbed by a mysterious fellow with x-ray glasses. And that man’s girlfriend absconds with the bag after he accidentally gets electrocuted. Meanwhile, the original thief’s relatives join in the search for the loot as well, and the bodies begin piling up in profusion. The animation—apart from some brightly-colored fantasy sequences—is deliberately flat, with a dark noir-ish look, and Jian’s underlying critique of the obsession with money in the impoverished cities of today’s China hardly goes very deep. Yet despite (or perhaps because of) the echoes here from films like Reservoir Dogs and Fargo—with their similarly bungling cast of characters—Have a Nice Day holds one’s interest, especially being a relatively short film. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
Have a Nice Day
Strand, 75 min., in Chinese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $27.99, Apr. 24 Volume 33, Issue 4
Have a Nice Day
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