In a small Korean province in 1986, three detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Had watched this movie a few years back and written a mini review in the Movies You Watched this Month thread here. Revisited the movie and loved it even more this time.
Memories of Murder is based on the true story of South Korea’s first known serial murders, which took place between 1986 and 1991. Some scenes are very good like the scene where they find out about how the serial killer requests a particular song or the scene where they chase down one suspect or the scene where they find out the suspect had soft hands. The scenes with the last suspect were excellent. The Chief kicking one of the officers scene looked totally ridiculous. Ritz had posted the best scene as Scene of the Week here and I had posted a couple of these scenes as a comment there.
Song Kang-ho was good as Park Doo-man, the somewhat funny detective in charge of solving the murders. Kim Sang-kyung was excellent as Seo Tae-yoon, the younger and experienced detective from Seoul. Kim Roi-ha was good as Cho Yong-koo, Park’s partner who enjoys beating suspects. Song Jae-ho was good as Sergeant Shin Dong-chul, the detectives’ superior. The rest of the cast was good too.
The movie is very engrossing but it has a open ending which may not be liked by some. Its more a movie about how the investigation affects the three detectives. Two of them pretty much interchange personalities by the end of the investigation. Bong Joon-ho’s direction is excellent and so is the cinematography by Kim Hyung-koo. The movie stays with you long after its over.
Highly Recommended
