Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Memories of Murder (2003)

IMDb plot summary: In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Directed by Bong Joon Ho. Starring Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, and Kim Roe-ha.

Memories of Murder is a Bong Joon Ho movie from South Korea, based on loosely an actual string of murders committed in the country that went for years without being solved. (Interestingly, the killer confessed to the murders after this movie came out, and I believe I even read that he had indeed seen the movie, so that's a weird fact.) The story centers primarily on the police who are trying to track down this killer, and how easy they find it to do terrible things like torture suspects and plant evidence that will lead to a conviction even if they know that it's not accurate. Like many of Bong’s movies I found myself having to go look this one up after I was finished with it to help me process how it ended. It's in many ways a typical crime procedural, but the casualness of the police cruelty really builds to a an unsettling climax in the final scenes. It's not the kind of story that I typically seek out but I think it is well told and I think Bong Joon Ho is a master at his craft, so it's no surprise that this is a really well crafted film. I wonder if I return to it after a little time if it will have a stronger impact on me, because even after just one viewing I can feel the weight that this story can carry with it.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Memories of Murder > The Blues Brothers
Memories of Murder < Dark Passage
Memories of Murder > The Tragedy of Macbeth
Memories of Murder > Corrina, Corrina
Memories of Murder < Nerve
Memories of Murder < The Faculty
Memories of Murder < Wonder Man
Memories of Murder < A Bug’s Life
Memories of Murder < The Vanishing
Memories of Murder < Seven Chances
Memories of Murder < The Country Girl
Memories of Murder < Waking Ned Devine
Final spot: #1203 out of 3848, or 69%.

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