Have a Nice Day

Xiao Zhang, a driver, steals a million yuan from his boss. He wants the money to fix his girlfriend's failed cosmetic surgery. Word gets out before the bag leaves his hands, and three separate parties come after him: his boss's man, the town's odd inventor, and everyone else who hears about it. Over one night the bag changes hands and almost nobody survives. Liu Jian drew the film largely alone over a long period, taking an industrial town in southern China as his background: unfinished construction, signage, empty roads. The animation is deliberately still; the characters barely move and the talk comes forward. The register is black comedy and the violence passes almost too fast to be shown. The film was selected for the main competition for the Golden Bear at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival in 2017. It was withdrawn from the Annecy animation festival that year; the festival said it was pulled at the producer's request after increasingly firm approaches from Chinese officials. It won best animated feature at the 54th Golden Horse Awards. Who it's for: Viewers who like adult animation, films that look at China's provincial economy, and black comedy. Who it's not for: The animation is technically limited and there is little movement. None of the characters is sympathetic and the film rescues nobody.