Hey folks, Harry here... Right now one of the most vital and powerful arenas of film on the planet is South Korea. Their Horror and Crime/Suspense films have just been remarkable of late. I'm not sure about the other genres mainly due to the fact that I haven't seen them, but if they were as good as these others... whew. When I named SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE as my number one film of 2002, I wasn't pulling anyone's leg, I've received about 40 some odd letters from folks that tracked down a foreign dvd of the film and they've all written to thank me over and over again for introducing them to that title. Well, now I'm getting a suggestion from Tayl from Seoul, who is also a fan of SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE regarding a new title based on a true crime case in South Korea called MEMORIES OF MURDER. Already, I am searching...
Hi Harry
This is Tayl from Seoul,Korea.
I’m writing this letter to you in such euphoria that the movie I caught last night put me in. The film was so great now I’m send out the word of recommendation a la“Good Luck Flanders”style to all the people I can think of. Most of them are, of course, Korean, and Some Japanese. You’re the only American that I can think of, so be proud of it. I just know you from your infamous pick of SFMV as the best of 2002. When I heard about it, I almost did my best Don King impression of“that is a choice of such fabulosity, brother”
As a fan of SFMV to another, I present you this.
This movie is called“Memories of Murder”or“Memory of Murder”as on the IMDB and it is loosely based on the actual serial murder case happened inKoreaback in the tumultuous 80's. Called "Hwasung Murders" after its location, a country side some miles from the national capitol,Seoul, it is still unsolved but the investigation camp has long been closed with the unlimited prescription period. The body count was 10 and the victims were all female. They were all strangled to death with their genitals given some extensive care.
The story revolves with two distinctively different detectives. On one hand we have this easy-going local cop (nicely played by Kang-Ho Song, the Mr. Vengeance) who relies solely on his instinct as result of the horrid conditions of his small town PD (no gears, no budget, no lab, no whatever) as well as his lack of education (never been to college, just a few months in police training camp and a lot of field experience). He has such confidence in his instinct that he doesn’t think it’s wrong to fabricate some evidence or torture“yes I did it”out of the believed(not suspected)-to-be-the-perp. He’s proud of his nickname,“Shaman eyeball”
On the other hand, there is a young big city cop who volunteered to get transferred to this god-forsaken town just to take a crack at this first-ever serial killer case inKorea. His pet phrase is“a file never lies.”He understands the science of investigation, reasoning, and deduction.
Doesn’t this ring a huge bell from“the Long Ship”to you? Yes we’ve seen a tons of good /bad, city/town cop conflicts, and the premise of the film almost puts it on the train bound to the Clichéville, tut-tu. But almost, yes almost.
The film has much bigger scope to the story than the conflict between the two. I’m not gonna spoil it by telling every detail, but lemme just say this. Some part of it even reads like a piece of period report conveying the time and the atmosphere of the 80’s in Korea so vividly. At that time cops were too busy dealing with the demonstrators out on the street to prevent, let alone solve, a case like this. It is a testimony regarding that absurd time that once was existed and we are still not sure of having got out of it totally. In that humongous absurdity, the conflict between the two cops seems so trivial and just helpless, and those two begin to understand that as the story unfurls.
This film is nicely directed by Bong Jun-ho. He debuted with a critically acclaimed box office failure“Barking Dog Never Bites”and earned some international film awards with it despite of his commercial failure. Thus, he emerged suddenly as one of rising talents in Korean Cinema. A lot of people have been looking forward to see his next picture.
In his second film Bong is actually very smoking (yes, the pun is intended). He brings extensive visual details and cinema-verite-feel here to make this film very locale and period-specific like those of Coen Brothers’. Anf the acting…ooh. If I were to say all the actings were so wonderful that would be an understatement. Practically, all the actors lived out the film, not just acted out. Mr. Song from SFMV is giving his lifetime performance (you’ll see this is not just a hyping exaggeration, when you actually see the film) but the real surprise in this film are Kim Sang-gyeong(city cop) and Park Hae-il (3rd suspect).
Now I’m very curious about how this film would play to foreign audience. It has its head deep in the cultural context of the certain period and time. Most of the film’s jokes might lose its meanings to audience outside of that context. But I was thinking the same thing when JSA was out. So, it might work.
Well this concludes my good Korean flic alert.
Make sure you remember that title“Memories of Murder”
I'm also sending its posters...
(tagline reads: "Where are you now", "We were dying to get you, who are you really?")
Tayl
P.S. Oh and by the way the deaf/mute boy from SFMV, Shin Hagyun did a wonderful job in“Save the green planet”and that’s another piece of work. It’s sorta“Swimming with Sharks”meets“Men In Black”A very funny movie. Peel you eyes for this one too.
and also the official sites for the films
Memories of Murdur: MemoriesOfMurder.Co.Kr
Save the green Planet: SaveJiGu.Co.Kr
