Memories of Murder

Dadurch hab´ ich meine Füße auf dem Boden behalten ... es ist eigentlich eine Art asiatisches Äquivalent einer metaphysischen und sozialen Detektivstory (zweimal hab´ ich mich da an Once Upon a Time in Anatolia erinnern, obwohl eher als eine Art entfernte Resonanz) und zeitgleich ein einzigartiges Genre-Mutagen, welches sich von einführenden komödiantischen und satirischen Tönen in ein dunkles Thriller-Monster verwandelt. Die Motive der Besessenheit, des Eifers sowie der Unvorhersehbarkeit des Täters riechen nach Finchers Zodiac - oder vielleicht eher im Gegenteil (hiermit hat Memories of Murder auch ein extrem langsames Tempo sowie einen konservativen Widerstand gegen Effizienz gemeinsam). Die Steigerung ist subtil, jedoch vollends einzigartig, der Charakteraufbau faszinierend (Verwandlung eines ungehobelten Detektivs in einen tragischen Helden in wenigen Minuten - brillant), die Inszenierung einiger Szenen ist von der Kamerabewegung bishin zum situativen Rahmen komplex durchdacht worden ). Ich versuche mich daran zu erinnern, wann ich das letzte Mal einen Thriller über einen Serienkiller wie diesen mitsamt aller Farbtöne genossen habe ... Wahrscheinlich wärs wiederum Zodiac, aber Memories of Murder ist unterhaltsamer und subversiver. Ich sehe, dass meine Lücken in Sachen koreanisches Kino alarmierend sind und aufgefüllt werden müssen! (28.02.2012)

An outstanding, dark crime movie with a social conscience based on real events that is rather unfairly dubbed as a second Se7en. OK, here they investigate serial murders, but that is about all that these pictures have in common. Memories of Murder treads its own, untraditional, “mirror holding" path. For a long time it makes out that it is a strange satire on the work of a small town police department. However, it gradually starts to gain dark undertones, the plot gets thicker and the strangeness at the beginning plays a fundamental role in the wonderful character development. The only serious negative apart from genre imbalance is how long it takes to get up to speed; the first half hour could easily be shortened some. (02.05.2005)

The cops were driving me crazy at first, and I started thinking maybe they only had one brain between them. But as the victims got worse, they started to realize the seriousness of the situation, threw aside the cheap humor, and kicked off a thrilling manhunt. That's when I stopped noticing anything else and got caught up in the plot. It had been a long time since I was so interested in an ending. Whether or not I understood it, I really don't know. But this is just another one of those endings that everyone explains in their own way. I take one star off for the beginning, which was all over the place and the fact that I didn’t get the meaning of it until sometime near the end of the film. (07.12.2013)

I have already mentioned several times in my reviews that I have a problem with East Asian cinema, as I have difficulty accepting its world of thoughts, ethical standards, and general cultural dimension. In some cases, I don't understand those films, in others, I can't identify with their ethical starting points, and in others, I simply dislike the director's style and unnatural movement and speech. South Korean cinema is a typical example of this. It has never happened that I gave more than 3 stars to any South Korean film, including those by the most acclaimed directors. Ironically, it did happen with this film, although it is a film in which I can point out many specific shortcomings, which would bother me disproportionately more with well-known American or European filmmakers. Whether it's the whole series of absurd elements in the investigation - which I would accept in countries in central Africa and maybe even in central America, but for technologically and culturally advanced South Korea, they seem unbelievable - naive twists in the script (the crucial discovery that changes investigators' point of view is clear from the beginning, even to a very average intelligent viewer without knowledge of forensic criminalistic methods), the strange genre classification when the film contains a number of comedic elements that, in my opinion, arose more as unintentional magic rather than a creative intention and end up being disruptive in the result. Nevertheless, this is a film that is not excellent, but interesting, and the culturally different perspective on society from the opposite end of the planet ultimately adds value to it, hence the fourth star I'm giving it. Additionally, despite my reservations about the script, I must acknowledge the film's quality in terms of the excellent music, editing, and camera work. Overall impression: 75%. (31.07.2011)

Typical Bong. The film gets moving slowly, approaching the characters with a weird detachment, in a similar way the obsolete and uneven rules of their society affects them. The practices of the investigators are abominable and morally questionable and soon the viewer wishes them no good. And nothing good will come their way, because this is not a tale about the suppression and punishment of evil, but about its elusiveness and unpredictability, as well as about the bitter demystification of good and questioning the required values which, unlike Western films, the Korean society of the time does not provide – the detectives don’t have families and their lives are only about their work full of violence, mistrust and fraud. However, through the repeated delaying of the climax and the feeling of growing hopelessness, the viewer gradually gets closer to the protagonist and begins to feel sorry for him, just as after a while he feels sorry for all the people he has interrogated. Existence itself becomes a crime and the investigation is only a way to come to terms with and make sense of it. If there’s one Hollywood film Memories of Murder reminded me of, it’s not Se7en, but Fincher’s Zodiac, which reflects on the hopelessness of the system and the final sense of moral inadequacy in a similar way. Together with Parasite, the best Bong so far. What’s interesting, though, is that whereas the ending ruined for me his Oscar winner, here it was the beginning that I couldn’t get into. 85% (05.03.2020)