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Memories of Murder review
:. Director: Joon-ho Bong
:. Starring: Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim
Running Time: 1:12
Year: 2003
Country: South Korea
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10 women raped and brutally killed in Korea in the mid-eighties by the country's first serial killer serve as the inspiration for director Bong Joon-ho's police thriller. From the morbidity of the gruesome murders to the unexpected humor found in the massive ineptitude of the police investigating the case, Joon-ho's feature film blends genres without batting an eye. For an American audience spoon-fed on CSI and Law and Order, some of the rudimentary tactics may be outrageously outdated, but the film is quite engrossing and surprisingly edgy.
Main character Park (Kang-ho Song) is a cross between Dirty Harry and Takeshi Kitano's characters, though on a much more vulgar level. His methods of investigation are appalling (and simultaneously funny). He gets his tips from a lover, consults a fortuneteller for information (and then tries to get her to name a suspect from a series of photos he shows her) and even stoops to the level of stealing a mentally retarded man's shoe in order to place a print at the crime scene. As the case becomes more baffling and gruesome, so does Park's desperation in solving the case by any means necessary, even if it means locking up an innocent man. His exasperation stems from the lack of technology and training available in Korea coupled with a provincial police department that simply does not have experience in solving serial murders. It's a case that has shocked the nation and the team is simply not equipped to handle it (though it doesn't help that they continually botch things up, from destroying and planting evidence to torturing detained suspects). Park looks to his movie heroes for inspiration but alas, it's not enough. The requisite cop from the big city, played by Sang-kyung Kim, comes to the rescue and to take part in a good cop/bad cop routine that turns increasingly grey. Park's not totally corrupt though: when DNA tests returned from America prove that a suspect is not the killer he is let go instead of being shot in the head.
Director Joon-ho guides the scenes from macabre to humorous in a steady manner that isn't jarring or out of context. Indeed, it's this humor that adds a surprising layer of lightness to the entire production. Though police justice may be hard to come by in this hick town, comedic poetic justice does in fact exist. The cop whose signature movie is kicking suspects into confession has a leg amputated after a rusty nail is driven in by an angry victim. In one hilarious scene Park, convinced that the murderer is a hairless man, spends the day spying on Buddhist monks in a bathhouse. He will go to any lengths, other than actually using a logical methodology!
The cinematography of the countryside is spectacular and unsettling: in this bucolic setting of golden fields and open skies there is a murderer loose and praying on unsuspecting women. Joon-ho cleverly creates a suffocating atmosphere: the tension and unease of the victims and the police are palpable. Though I'm a scaredy cat by nature, I haven't wanted to scream "RUN!" during a movie in a long time. It's refreshing how a movie devoid of Hollywood explosions and high tech detective work can manipulate fear so simply and so easily. In one nighttime scene we see a woman in a field and behind her a figure slowly rises for a brief second—and that's all it takes to jumpstart panic.
Coupled with an excellent cast and sharp dialogue, Joon-ho has fashioned a compelling, edgy film on the nature of justice when human fallibility and lack of scientific evidence are in abundance. I smell an American remake somewhere in a Hollywood kitchen.
Anji Milanovic
 Movie Reviews: Korean Films
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