Calling Jian Liu’s twisty follow-the-stolen-moneybag story an animated film might seem a bit of an exaggeration. Many shots are still illustrations adorned with a single moving element: a rising wisp of smoke, a flashing neon sign, a lone automobile. But at least the stills look good: clean, unbusy settings full of muted color, moody decay, and just enough detail. (The various posters in various places are worth noting, and you’ll have plenty of time to take them in.) The dialogue is, for the most part, similarly sparing, which makes the big boss’s self-indulgent ramblings stick out unattractively. Everyone else says exactly as much as is needed to keep things moving and no more. Heck, even the runtime is lean; it takes just 70 minutes to follow the bag from its initial theft (by a young man looking to help his girlfriend correct her botched plastic surgery so he can marry her and give his mother a grandchild) to its final recipient. And even that includes a lengthy swim up from the depths of unconsciousness and a music video detour into agrarian propaganda. It’s all very self-consciously cool, but not off-puttingly so. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (2017) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.