Dir. Bong Joon-Ho, Korea, 127 mins
Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Kim Sang-Kyung, Kim Rwe-Ha, Song Jae-Ho
Based on a true story, Memories of Murder is a haunting examination of two very different detectives' struggle to find Korea 's first serial killer. The film opens in 1986 with the discovery of the first of what eventually becomes, over the next five years, an increasingly brutal string of killings: ten women are raped and murdered, all in one small country town.
It is the confidence in which director/co-writer Joon-Ho (Barking Dogs Never Bite) skilfully avoids the clichés of the genre that really sets this film apart. Despite the subject matter the film contains a surprising amount of darkly humorous observations, as the detectives battle against their own narrow outlooks and a society unused to such violent crimes. The comedy of errors surrounding the first two murder scenes perhaps best exemplifies this - passers-by are allowed to simply walk all over potential forensic evidence.
The performances are remarkably strong throughout, though the two lead actors deserve special mention. The tensions and terse interactions between Park (Kang-Ho), the country cop who insists he can tell guilt "just by looking at your face", and Seo (Sang-Kyung), the distant and cerebral detective from Seoul, never descend into time-immemorial clichés often associated with cop films. Both actors clearly immersed themselves in their respective roles, allowing the audience to really feel their very different expressions of their escalating desperation as the murders continue unabated.
Memories of Murder is very much a study of lost (pragmatic) innocence - the sequence of murders is something the police force is ill prepared and ill equipped to deal with. The early investigations rely on the tried and tested approach of rounding up the people who knew the victim, and then setting the thuggish cop Cho (Rwe-Ha) upon them. The grim ridiculousness of this situation is highlighted by the incongruously flower-patterned shower cap Cho dons on one of his army boots before violently kicking a "confession" out of the suspects.
Joon-Ho (and co-writer Sung-Bo) despite the moments of humour, expertly builds the dramatic tension to a claustrophobic close, without resorting to simplistic genre plotting. The conclusion is far from assured at any point, nor are the often-shocking developments treated as "surprise" twists - as befitting a true story.
Kim Hyung-Ku's Cinematography is stunning, capturing expertly the change of seasons from the sun-drenched fields that frame the narrative, to the central body of the film that takes place in an often raining, perpetually grey and oppressive once-idyll.
Memories of Murder is a powerful film that never resorts to overtly unnecessary gruesome images, yet provides a horrifying, dramatic and entertaining story that expertly captures the inherent sadness of unsolved murders, and a society's forever-lost innocence.
Paul Nash
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