IMDb Top 250: #228 – Memories of Murder (2003)

250 films, 250 reviews. This is a pretty crazy idea, but who doesn’t love a challenge? Here at Cultured Vultures we’ll be counting down the IMDb Top 250 with a review for each from one of our dedicated film writers. Everything from Goodfellas to Casablanca will be covered over the next year or so for you film lovers to enjoy. You can’t say we don’t spoil you, you lovely lot. – Ashley, Project Lead

For long the dependence of the East on the West was dealt in ways that were either subtle or in-your-face, few classics retain the status of being untouched, kept away from remakes that somehow tarnish their cult image. Memories of Murder is one such South Korean classic. Despite their deadpan expressions, this ensemble cast manages to bring drama, crime, and comedy to life in ways you wouldn’t expect.

Documenting Korea’s first serial murder mystery between 1986 and 1991, Memories Of Murder, released in 2003, remains to this day an internationally acclaimed – and award winning – whodunit (not really solved in reality and the movie likewise) that mirrors life with an unease that’s hard to shake off. The movie begins with young kids at a farm, disturbing the very unorganised investigation of the death of a young woman. Her bound, raped and naked body is found in a ditch by Detective Park Doo-man, played by the untrained yet effortless Song Kang-ho and his side-kick Detective Cho Yong-koo played by Kim Roi-ha. Violent interrogations by the duo coerce suspects to a confession that isn’t necessarily true, and the detectives concoct a rather hilarious explanation to the gruesome murders. The movie drags on a little whilst revealing a few more murders, each with the same modus operandi: young women bound, raped and needlessly humiliated with their lingerie wrapped over their head, while Park and Cho put together a list of suspects.

At this point, rationale is brought to the unruly duo making them a fractured trio with the introduction of Detective Seo Tae-yoon played by Kim Sang-kyung. Although Seo and Park don’t see eye to eye on the investigation, the former’s reliance on facts and the latter’s faith in fiction is challenged when they zero in on a physically challenged/disfigured hapless romantic/stalker rounded up on a hunch by Park’s girlfriend after the murder of a local woman. Cho’s violent treatment leads him to describe the murder in great detail, and although Seo debunks the theory, the murders still continue.

After reducing the women to hapless victims in the movie, other women are given their due when a fellow female police officer, seen often making tea, provides the first true lead to get to the murders. A red dress, a song on the radio, the broadcast dates and rainy nights narrow down the search to a suspect, while a survivor comes out with a clue that may help the investigation. When Park and Seo fail to nail the suspect, one takes to shamans while the other’s intuition leads them on a wild goose chase of a possible suspect. This masturbating suspect must be the comical element, seeing as the distinctly effeminate man and his under-rehearsed confession are the only things that acquit him of the crimes after they find a new victim, this time, with pieces of diced peach retrieved from her vagina.

Emotions run amok, the detectives decide that it’s enough and decide to take matters into their own hands when a rather plain looking war veteran is arrested and his assault under police custody gets Cho kicked off the case temporarily. Upset by the reaction from his superiors, Cho’s drunken stupor and assault lead to rather unnecessary violence, leaving him with a wounded and later amputated leg, while Park and Seo chase the hapless stalker who confesses that he saw the murder and the murderer, albeit briefly, although his description isn’t bankable.

One unavoidable murder offers a new clue, this time it’s semen and DNA. Their latest suspect, a soldier who requests the song on the night of the murders, is followed, questioned and constantly harassed after a night of following him leads to another murder, with the young woman sliced and stuffed with a spoon and a pen spurs Seo to kill the soldier. In real life, Korea took the DNA samples to Japan to be assessed, but the movie version cites America. A fight ensues as Seo and Park follow the soldier, Seo fighting the man, while Park becomes the voice of reason, and Seo loses his cool.

The movie ends with Park, now a businessman, going back to scene of the crime, seeing that in 2003 the crime still remained unsolved. A little girl catches him looking into the ditch where they found the first victim and reveals that another man was doing exactly the same thing, leaving clues that unfortunately no one would follow up on.

Despite a rather unsure end to the mystery, the cast offers the viewer slices of South Korean life under the militia, the reliance on fact and fiction, gender inequality, police violence, the dependence on the West and a movie that is worth a watch if you like lazy, idyllic thrillers.

Note: the IMDb Top 250 Cultured Vultures are using is based on the standings from the 16th of November. Inconsistencies may apply.