Have a Nice Day

Jian Liu's Have a Nice Day has the rough contours of an early Quentin Tarantino film with the particulars of a more arty, meditative mood piece. It's a twisty-turny crime drama complete with stolen money, vengeful mob bosses and all sorts of strange coincidences and random dialogue digressions. But what it really seems to be about are the empty streets of a depressed Chinese town, the blinking neon of rough neighborhoods, the ubiquity of screens and the constant drone of mobile devices (everybody in the movie has a distinct ringtone, and there are a lot of ringtones). Oh, and it's animated.

The story follows the intricate events that ensue after a young driver named Zhang Xiao steals a bag of 1 million yuan belonging to mob boss Uncle Liu (whom we first meet gleefully torturing one of his childhood friends). Soon enough, there's a hitman after the money -- not to mention an assorted cast of on-the-make individuals, each with their own intentions and desires.

Zhang is planning to use the money to take his girlfriend to South Korea, so that a failed plastic surgery operation can be corrected. Most crime thrillers are about freedom, escape, morality -- there's always someone looking to break free of the system. But here, everybody's already been corrupted by society, by its financial and cultural demands. Those cellphones constantly lighting up in the characters' pockets are the central accessory of modern capitalism. Everybody's always reachable, connected, compromised.

The surprisingly vibrant, hand-drawn images of Have a Nice Day revitalize the story's more tired elements. It may not give us anything new, but Jian Liu's film looks lovely and, at 77 minutes, doesn't overstay its welcome.