With its clever, understated sense of humour, magnificent pop art look and implicit criticism of capitalist China, this movie is like a love child of the Coen Bros, Quentin Tarantino and Ai Weiwei. In a backwater Chinese city, Xiao Zhang is on a mission to scare up some money. His fiancé’s plastic surgery was a failure and needs remedying. In a desperate move, he steals a bag of cash containing a cool million from his boss. News of the heist spreads through town like wildfire. In the space of a single night, everyone goes out in search of Xiao Zhang and the cash.

Although the story may sound familiar, the extremely cool, intelligent and arty portrayal is not. Director Jian Liu is a painter and a huge fan of the Coen brothers. He made the movie almost entirely on his own, with as result an unusual animation style with a seriously supreme sense of dark humour. Add in the indescribably smooth and catchy electropop of The Shanghai Restoration Project, and you’re left with a truly remarkable and original movie.

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