Have a Nice Day is a rare example of a Chinese animated film. Its a story of greed, violence and one man’s love for his girlfriend set in a a small rundown Chinese city.
Xiao Zhang steals 1 million RMB from a gangster to take his girlfreiend to Korea to have her botched plastic surgery repaired. The gangster, Uncle Liu, sends one of his men, Skinny, to find the money.
But, as in the best Coen brothers tradition, a while range of people get invovled, arbitrary (and not so arbitrary) mishaps ensue and the money chnages from one hand to another.
The animation is striking using bold but often washed-out colours to portray the seedy hotels, internet cafes and roadside restaurants. The plot moves along at pace and there are even some musical interludes. Pride of place must go to I love Shangri-la.
The film acknowledges its debts to outside influences and makes frequent passing references to world events including the election of Donald Trump and Brexit.
It is very much the creation of director Liu Jian who seems to have been involved in almost every aspect of its creation including writing the lyrics to I love Shangri-la. Well worth a watch though, outside a Chinese context, there is nothing very original.
The English title is surely sarcastic. Big World in Chinese.
dianyingblog 电影 