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MEMORIES OF MURDER is much more than just another serial killer story; this South Korean thriller is a movie of real depth, a genre-transcending tale that shines a light on social and political issues as well as presenting that country's police force in a typically unflattering light. The main story of the tale is also interesting, as is the complex back story, and although slow-paced this is one of those films that creeps up on you to become gripping by the end. Song Kang-ho leads a great cast, but the real star here is director Bong Joon Ho, who followed this up with the equally great THE HOST and SNOWPIERCER.
Memories of Murder Reviews
Memories of Murder review
Posted : 2 years, 5 months ago on 5 November 2021 07:11
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Memories of Murder review
Posted : 4 years, 1 month ago on 1 March 2020 03:03
The grace is in details, each character has some. The guilty/innocent poor men, the violent police who tackles everybody, the karaoke sequence...
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A very good movie
Posted : 7 years, 1 month ago on 4 March 2017 03:17
Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure. Indeed, right from the start, I recognized the unique style of Joon-ho Bong which was in this case to mix a very dark and realistic serial-killer thriller with some unexpected humor. He already did something similar with 'Gwoemul' in which he mixed a typical monster feature also with some humor but even though I liked this movie as well, it didn't completely convince me and I thought this previous directing effort worked better. Indeed, I really enjoyed the fact that there were just so many layers. Not only it gave a great look on how rural South Korea must have been in the 80's, there was also this clash between the modern methods used by a cop from Seoul and the (usually brutal) methods used by the local cops who seemed to be just terribly incompetent. It is also one of these few very brave thrillers which dare not to finish everything with some preposterous and annoying twist suddenly solving the case and it made the whole thing even more fascinating. To conclude, this movie completely deserved its stellar reputation, it was quite a spellbinding thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Ingenious Korean film with a smart ending...
Posted : 11 years, 10 months ago on 14 June 2012 03:26
Korean Cinema is one of those areas which I have yet to completely explore. Thanks to the Brutal thrilling Korean classic Oldboy, came out in 2003, I got highly excited about exploring the Korean world continuing my journey with this incredible film: Memories of Murder.
Memories of Murder, based on a true story, is a crime thriller set in the late 1980's. Two rural cops and a special detective from Seoul try hard to search for the killer who ruthlessly rapes women, especially on rainy nights a factor that probably excites him. The film shows us the usual cat-and-mouse chase. Though it's not an experience that cliched thrillers gives, just running around here and there...
What mostly bothers me are the subtitles in any foreign movie. The way you have to look down every time while missing all the action even on a small scale might distract you. Memories of Murder is one of those foreign films where the above factor just doesn't completely apply. Some of the best scenes of this film happen in silence. There are truly great examples of camera work in this film that includes the dry but powerful cinematography, few but effective Steadicam shots and of course the direction. Like in one scene when the lead Detective comes to inspect the first crime scene (also filmed in one continuous shot), they find a shoe print nearby on a small road as an evidence. Suddenly, a tractor comes out of nowhere and ignoring the Detective's cries ("No Stop!") it goes over the evidence smudging the entire print. This is one particular scenario which was shot with such realism that you connect yourself with the movie and become a part of it. I don't care how simple or complex the scenes are, the most vital property of any good cinema is that it should allow you to become a part of that experience. Even sounds are important in this film. Can't explain that in detail but you will notice it once you have seen it. The acting too is superb, as always in any great film. The way they interrogated brutally or researched or sometimes were very impatient was captured again in a realistic ways involving attention seeking performances.
Memories of Murder though doesn't concentrate much on the murders, it kind of gives more attention to the emotional aspects of the characters involved in the case. Hence, the name. When you say Memories of Murder it refers not only to the ones solving the case but also the ones who were the victim of this brutality. The film truly goes more beyond the thriller part and at the conclusion of the film, no one will deny that they had watched something different. The downside is that it takes little patience to watch the film and the film's ending is not that easy to take in. Still, I am highly impressed by the different style of film-making of Koreans.
In conclusion, Memories of Murder is a realistic document of the incident, not like some Hollywood flicks that put in some spice like an exit line just after a kill or the hero walking away from an explosion. If you are a good lover of cinema, this will hardly disappoint you. There is one thing I have learned so far in Korean thrillers: Always expect the unexpected. Just in case of this film, it comes out in a very subtle manner...
Have a nice day and take care.
Visit my facebook page: www.facebook.com/filmsthemostbeautifulart
Memories of Murder, based on a true story, is a crime thriller set in the late 1980's. Two rural cops and a special detective from Seoul try hard to search for the killer who ruthlessly rapes women, especially on rainy nights a factor that probably excites him. The film shows us the usual cat-and-mouse chase. Though it's not an experience that cliched thrillers gives, just running around here and there...
What mostly bothers me are the subtitles in any foreign movie. The way you have to look down every time while missing all the action even on a small scale might distract you. Memories of Murder is one of those foreign films where the above factor just doesn't completely apply. Some of the best scenes of this film happen in silence. There are truly great examples of camera work in this film that includes the dry but powerful cinematography, few but effective Steadicam shots and of course the direction. Like in one scene when the lead Detective comes to inspect the first crime scene (also filmed in one continuous shot), they find a shoe print nearby on a small road as an evidence. Suddenly, a tractor comes out of nowhere and ignoring the Detective's cries ("No Stop!") it goes over the evidence smudging the entire print. This is one particular scenario which was shot with such realism that you connect yourself with the movie and become a part of it. I don't care how simple or complex the scenes are, the most vital property of any good cinema is that it should allow you to become a part of that experience. Even sounds are important in this film. Can't explain that in detail but you will notice it once you have seen it. The acting too is superb, as always in any great film. The way they interrogated brutally or researched or sometimes were very impatient was captured again in a realistic ways involving attention seeking performances.
Memories of Murder though doesn't concentrate much on the murders, it kind of gives more attention to the emotional aspects of the characters involved in the case. Hence, the name. When you say Memories of Murder it refers not only to the ones solving the case but also the ones who were the victim of this brutality. The film truly goes more beyond the thriller part and at the conclusion of the film, no one will deny that they had watched something different. The downside is that it takes little patience to watch the film and the film's ending is not that easy to take in. Still, I am highly impressed by the different style of film-making of Koreans.
In conclusion, Memories of Murder is a realistic document of the incident, not like some Hollywood flicks that put in some spice like an exit line just after a kill or the hero walking away from an explosion. If you are a good lover of cinema, this will hardly disappoint you. There is one thing I have learned so far in Korean thrillers: Always expect the unexpected. Just in case of this film, it comes out in a very subtle manner...
Have a nice day and take care.
Visit my facebook page: www.facebook.com/filmsthemostbeautifulart
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Memories of Murder review
Posted : 13 years, 1 month ago on 20 March 2011 08:46
Memories of Murder opens in a ponderous mood as a small town detective named Park Doo-Man (played by Mr. Vengeance himself Kang-ho Song) discovers the body of a murdered girl stuffed into a stone partition of a ditch. Her hands are bound and her mouth gagged; she will soon be joined by many more.
The year is 1986 and South Korea’s police force is ultimately ill equipped to deal with the onslaught they are about to face.
Giving a plot summary would be both crippling dull, pointless and would probably ruin the movie for people so instead I am just going to talk about the way the movie works with reference to whatever scenes come to mind.
Original Park Chan-wook was going to make Memories of Murder and Joon-ho Bong was going to film Oldboy. And while it would be easy to see how the directors could have adapted the films, Memories is in a lot of ways very similar to Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance while Oldboy is stylistically much closer to Joon-ho Bong’s earlier film Barking Dogs Never Bite.
If the directors had continued in this vein we would have wound up with two excellent films, as it was the swapping of material produced two of the finest films to ever come out of Korea and arguably two of the finest films of this century.
In a lot of ways Memories of Murder is an attack on the brutal way that the police dealt the murder suspects. What Joon-ho Bong does which cements this film as a classic is make the three lead police officers deeply flawed individuals who have moments of incredible charm and incredible cruelty.
Detective Park is a man who allows a mentally challenged boy to get beaten up by his subordinate, tries to frame said boy, and attempts to beat the confession out of another innocent suspect. And yet the other elements of his character make him seem ultimately conflicted. What is more interesting is the descent of the more rational Detective Seo Tae-Yoon a police officer from Seoul, who is at first the only member of the team willing to use scientific method and whom saves two of the suspects from wrongful imprisonment.
As the case goes on and more women are found dead with increasingly bizarre twists on the murder’s modus operandi, including segments of peach, pencils and corsets, the younger detective finds himself becoming more and more like those he looks down upon convincing himself that one suspect is the killer no matter what the evidence says.
What makes Memories of Murder so special is that most serial killer films serve a near fetishistic function in that they lionise the killer. No matter how much of a bastard he is there is an undoubted pleasure in waiting to see how the killer will elude the cops and what he will do next.
Memories of Murder has none of this, each and every death has a meaning and the killer himself is a character to be feared and loathed. In fact the refusal of the film to name the killer, seen as the film is based on a real life unsolved crime it’s the only way it could be done, he retains a shadow like quality.
The film is visually stunning and once again highlights a distinctive talent for cinematography that even the most mundane Korean directors seem blessed with. It is a hauntingly beautiful set off by an evocative score, a genuine sense of dread and characters who are imperfect but utterly compelling.
The year is 1986 and South Korea’s police force is ultimately ill equipped to deal with the onslaught they are about to face.
Giving a plot summary would be both crippling dull, pointless and would probably ruin the movie for people so instead I am just going to talk about the way the movie works with reference to whatever scenes come to mind.
Original Park Chan-wook was going to make Memories of Murder and Joon-ho Bong was going to film Oldboy. And while it would be easy to see how the directors could have adapted the films, Memories is in a lot of ways very similar to Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance while Oldboy is stylistically much closer to Joon-ho Bong’s earlier film Barking Dogs Never Bite.
If the directors had continued in this vein we would have wound up with two excellent films, as it was the swapping of material produced two of the finest films to ever come out of Korea and arguably two of the finest films of this century.
In a lot of ways Memories of Murder is an attack on the brutal way that the police dealt the murder suspects. What Joon-ho Bong does which cements this film as a classic is make the three lead police officers deeply flawed individuals who have moments of incredible charm and incredible cruelty.
Detective Park is a man who allows a mentally challenged boy to get beaten up by his subordinate, tries to frame said boy, and attempts to beat the confession out of another innocent suspect. And yet the other elements of his character make him seem ultimately conflicted. What is more interesting is the descent of the more rational Detective Seo Tae-Yoon a police officer from Seoul, who is at first the only member of the team willing to use scientific method and whom saves two of the suspects from wrongful imprisonment.
As the case goes on and more women are found dead with increasingly bizarre twists on the murder’s modus operandi, including segments of peach, pencils and corsets, the younger detective finds himself becoming more and more like those he looks down upon convincing himself that one suspect is the killer no matter what the evidence says.
What makes Memories of Murder so special is that most serial killer films serve a near fetishistic function in that they lionise the killer. No matter how much of a bastard he is there is an undoubted pleasure in waiting to see how the killer will elude the cops and what he will do next.
Memories of Murder has none of this, each and every death has a meaning and the killer himself is a character to be feared and loathed. In fact the refusal of the film to name the killer, seen as the film is based on a real life unsolved crime it’s the only way it could be done, he retains a shadow like quality.
The film is visually stunning and once again highlights a distinctive talent for cinematography that even the most mundane Korean directors seem blessed with. It is a hauntingly beautiful set off by an evocative score, a genuine sense of dread and characters who are imperfect but utterly compelling.
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