Memories of Murder was promoted as a South Korean Zodiac. Both are police procedurals based on real serial killer manhunts. The main investigators become emotionally invested, to the point of obsession. Where Zodiac is meticulous in its style and approach, Memories has messiness that matches the general incompetence of its detectives. That incompetence often provokes laughs and that is the major point of difference between the two movies. Whereas Zodiac is a dark film about a dark time, Memories of Murder juggles a trickier tone. The balance of the serious subject matter and the levity which it employs in the first half is what sets it apart, and that buffoonery allows the film to access deeper layers of pathos when the characters that were clownish become new sources of misery.
In the last half, as more and more young women are killed, the movie really gets great. All the while, Bong maintains a melancholic streak throughout that doesn’t let you forget that women are the victims in this male-dominated world, even as they are also its most impressive inhabitants. Song Kang-ho in particular turns in a very compelling performance. His character is despicable, and it’s a testament to both Bong’s tone and Song’s performance that he works as the heart of the film ? Not the heart as in the moral center, but the character who the audience is stuck with, for better or worse.
Plus, the whole thing is spellbinding in its cinematography with a fantastic score and vivid sound work. Ever the master of a good close-up, and proper surveyor of the scene, clueing us in to every missed opportunity and screw up of our lead. Zodiac is a better procedural and deals with obsession better and in more depth. When a more experienced but younger detective comes in, he finds he has to work around the two bumbling idiot locals to try and get any semblance of detective’s work done. This is the film for me. I’ve never seen a manhunt film where the killer’s greatest ally is the incompetence and inexperience of the police and their eventual realization of that is one of the freshest takes on the genre ever.
Leave A Comment