link : Have a Nice Day (orig. Hao ji Le) [2017]
Have a Nice Day (orig. Hao ji Le) [2017]
IMDb listing
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Abrams) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review
Have a Nice Day (orig. Hao ji Le) [2017] (written and directed by Jian Liu) is a fun / irreverent Quentin Tarantino-ish CHINESE INDIE (!) animated film, that "displeased" the censoring authorities in China (it was banned there ;-).
To understand the achievement of this film, think honestly of Quentin Tarantino deciding to set Pulp Fiction [1994] in China's equivalent of (though more prolitarianish) South Park [1997-]. And from this perch of a random Chinese industrial town in the middle of nowhere, the writer / director skewers absolutely everyone / everything, from capitalists to communists to even simple random small-town consumerists.
This is because film is setup with a rather desperate robbery: a construction worker Xiao Zhang (voiced by Zhu Changlong) who also serves as a driver for a local crime boss "Uncle Liu" (voiced by Siming Yang) decides one day to steal a bag filled with money from said crime boss' "bag man." Why? He _needs_ (or "needs") money to send his girlfriend all the way to South Korea repair the results of botched, presumably locally-performed, cosmetic surgery...
The robbery sets of in motion the rest of the film as "Uncle Liu," clearly unhappy / "disappointed" sends out his men, notably a normally quite efficient old-time enforcer named "Thin Skin' (voiced by Xiofang Ma) to recover the money. However, with it becoming known through the grape-vine that "there's a large bag filled with money" out on the streets, all kinds of people, INCLUDING some arguably RELATIVES of poor Xioa Zhang, come out of the woodwork to try to get a hold of that "bag of cash" as well.
In the midst of this all kinds of other smaller "dramas" playout -- two other enforcers for "Uncle Liu" discuss religion: "Tell me, who's bigger? God or the Buddha?" "I don't know, I'd imagine that they're both BAD-A Dudes." "Yes, but I want to follow the bigger one." ;-)
Then poor "Thin Skin" on THIS particular day, EVERY TIME, he's about _whack somebody_, gets interrupted by his cell phone: "No I'm NOT interested in any Shanghai investment opportunities _right now_ ..." ;-)
A particular joy is an utterly random Big Lebowski [1998]-like detour / music video which envisions two of the film's characters (the girl is actually related to Xiao Zhang) suddenly being thrown into a EuroVision-like song contest, with the random music video SPECTACULARLY conflating BOLLYWOOD DRAMA / SOUND, still 1950s-60s (Mao era) SOCIALIST-REALIST ICONOGRAPHY with DC / MARVEL COMICS (as well as some traditional Chinese Buddhist / Imperial) IMAGERY thrown in as well.
That video is a JAW DROPPING experience and about as gleefully "South Park-ish" as it gets. It alone probably killed (indeed gleefully SELF-IMMOLATED) the film's chances with China's censors ;-).
Anyway, while certainly violent and often gleefully irreverent, hence not for everyone, I LOVED THE FILM, AND ITS MERE EXISTENCE. For this film reminds us of THE VALUE OF FREEDOM. Sure the film is often "stupid" but it's a "stupidity" that's often knowing and pointed. And the "powers that be" -- ALL "POWERS THAT BE" -- ought to be BIG ENOUGH to either answer _directly_ the film-makers' challenges (rather than try to "ban" the film, as China's authorities apparently have) or simply laugh along as well saying: "You know, while it's more complicated than you portray, but we get your point ..."
GREAT FILM! (if again, NOT for kids and many adults will probably find offence in the film as well ;-).
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