Da Shi Jie

A Tarantino-esque crime-comedy that's light on the comedy and irony and a bit heavier on slow, cynical atmosphere.

The slightly ugly character designs pair fairly well with how acerbic and cynical most of the characters are, but the visuals and some of the backgrounds and graphics look, if not pleasing, then at least interesting. Extremely limited animation at times, with only mouths moving and shot-reverse-shot between characters, but it's never painful to look at either. A couple of longer shots on scenery are nice and none of the framing and so forth really compares much to anime, it's a lot closer to Western film in general ... and particularly indie-animated American films in the same vein.

A lot of inconsequential dialogue, a lot of chitchat and jokes without punchlines and so forth. I would never call this film clever or unique, but it's well executed. It knows what it wants to do and it does that well. Slower, slightly atmospheric, etc. The lingering shots of an item, a body, or a scenic background with the decent sound work can be pleasurable despite feeling like padding sometimes.

That said, it does feel a little aimless, a little drawn out, a little crass. It's only 70+ minutes long, but it felt 30 minutes longer than that, mostly in a bad way. I don't know if I could recommend it to anyone beyond the novelty. It's solid for what it is though.

A dark meditation on the false promise of Chinese Communism and the lower classes’ desperate search for economic prosperity. Have a Nice Day features a wide ensemble of characters who are united in their poverty within Chinese society. The film demonstrates how, without meaningful opportunites to advance economically, there’s hardly room for the moral nuances of these characters’ survival struggle (which leaves little room for the viewer to judge.)

Characters can subscribe to the spiritual schools of Buddha, Bill Gates or Mao and still not have the means to afford quality plastic surgery (like the Koreans), let alone material bliss in the form of online ... shopping. But hey, it’s good to dream of Shangri-la, right?

The film’s quintessential scene involves one character explaining 自由 (zìyóu or freedom) using the analogy of shopping, perhaps more specifically of affording. From that story, it’s clear: None of these people are free. Freedom isn’t found in poverty - but violence is. And things are going to get real bloody.