Have a Nice Day, 2017.
Written and Directed by Liu Jian.
Featuring the voice talents of Changlong Zhu, Siming Yang, Kai Cao, and Xiaofeng Ma.
SYNOPSIS:
A city in southern China and a bag containing a million yuan draws several people from diverse backgrounds with different personal motives into a bloody conflict.
Money makes the world go around, especially in an impoverished, dirty looking, colorless (the palette is intentionally washed out to further illustrate the desire to accumulate enough cash to escape this run-down town over to South Korea) part of China. There’s a large sum of money stolen from a powerful crime boss which sets in motion another host of dollar sign twinkle-eyed civilians and criminals joining the hunt. In that regard, Have a Nice Day (the second animated feature from writer/director Liu Jian) has fair comparisons to Quentin Tarantino, specifically his bank heist debut masterpiece Reservoir Dogs. Have a Nice Day is similarly broken up into chapters as it follows various personalities gunning for the green, but it lacks interesting dialogue, memorable characters, and an engaging narrative.
Easily the most crippling flaw is the voiceover acting; it all comes across as robotic and flat, unable to inject any semblance of enthusiasm or spark into the words. This goes for tough words from mobster bosses, couples discussing the prospects of a better life, and direct confrontations involving bloody violence. At the same time, the acting isn’t necessarily bad or unbearable to listen to, it’s just boring. What is probably the best dialogue exchange isn’t even spoken out loud; it comes from a young man messaging his girlfriend from a café computer declaring that he has the stolen money and will now be able to take her to South Korea and get facial plastic surgery to fix damage presumably done by Chinese doctors after some sort of unspecified accident. The counterpoint to this argument is that the town’s inhabitants are supposed to sound distant and lifeless due to general unhappiness caused by their living conditions (adding onto the aura of hopelessness is a portion of a Donald Trump speech on the radio), but it’s undeniably not good when the delivery is so flat that one can’t be blamed for having their mind wander off into the distance.
It doesn’t help that the characters aren’t really characters, but rather ciphers for the script to include multiple philosophical conversations on everything from power levels of different gods to the true meaning of freedom (admittedly, this one is fairly intriguing as it pertains to money in a thought-provoking way). Filling in the gaps are some bizarre interludes; no joke, at one point in between chapters the film displays a body of water for roughly 3 minutes as soft music plays over it. Normally, I would point out that this is further bloating a ridiculous running time, but Have a Nice Day actually clocks in at a lightweight 75 minutes. Unfortunately, the movie feels nearly 2 hours.
Thankfully, whenever characters enter a physical struggle the direction isn’t afraid to abandon reality and employ some futuristic, technical gadgetry that is never too implausible to exist in the real world. Most notably is a pair of virtual-reality glasses that come in handy for spotting the cash, but there are also quite a few cool devices that are better left not spoiled. Furthermore, it represents another layer of that clear Quentin Tarantino inspiration. Also working in favor of Have a Nice Day is how few and far between hand-drawn animation features are, and the fact that this one accomplishes the tricky feat of looking ugly yet simultaneously striking in its visual aesthetic. The city isn’t meant to elicit happiness or a positive atmosphere; these characters are stuck in the dumps and the art style successfully reflects that. In particular, a shot inside of a meat butchering area is able to evoke a sense of deflation, but also utilizes a few bright colors to illustrate a beautiful image. After all the murder, a storm comes down symbolic of all of the above and more.
This is going to sound like heretic talk, but an English-dubbed version of Have a Nice Day could do wonders for upping the intensity of the dialogue. At the very least, the film needed a different selection of actors as most of them do not work in the roles of all, consistently ensuring viewers will check out regardless of how many people are trying to kill each other for a briefcase full of life-altering amounts of dough. It’s also difficult to explore political and financial problems in China without giving the audience characters to care about. However, it sure does look unique.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, friend me on Facebook, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, check out my personal non-Flickering Myth affiliated Patreon, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
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