James R | On 14, Feb 2018

MUBI will release controversial Chinese animation Have a Nice Day in cinemas this March.

Banned by film festival Annecy and causing controversy across the world, the pulse-pumping animated black comedy from director Liu Jian channels Pulp Fiction through a lens of new world, anti-Trump exasperation.

A hard rain is about to fall on a small town in Southern China. In a desperate attempt to find money to save his fiancée’s failed plastic surgery, Xiao Zhang, a truck driver, steals a bag containing 1 million from his boss. News of the robbery spreads fast within the town and, over the course of one night, everyone starts looking for Xiao Zhang and his money…

Described as “a bitingly satirical treat” by the subscription streaming service, it promises “plenty of genre thrills, breakneck pacing and black humour”. delivers a whirlwind neo-noir, cementing his place as a pioneering force in independent Chinese animation.

Featuring an irresistible 80s infused soundtrack by The Shanghai Restoration Project, the movie first caught MUBI’s eye at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, where it scooped up the rights to Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body and Soul, which has now gone on to become a frontrunner in the Best Foreign Language Oscar race. Have a Nice Day was acquired then, too, as part of a bunch of films hand-picked by the site’s team of curators. Now, as this year’s Berlinale gets underway, MUBI is preparing to unleash the animation upon the UK, with a theatrical run starting on Friday 23rd March. It will be released exclusively on the subscription site at a later date.

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