In 1986 Gyunggi, a series of murders confounded a local detective, Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho), and a young detective from Seoul, Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung). As the investigation advances, Doo-man and Tae-yoon's determination to find the cold-blooded murderer results in a lot of disagreement. With tension rising between the two, they've become the enemy of one another.Directed by the Academy Award winner Bong Joon-ho, "Memories of Murder" is one of his filmography's perplexing movie. Characterized by contrasting seriousness between the two characters and unerring depiction of brutality, its no surprise that this movie is considered Bong's best movie... Before Parasite.
As you might've guessed, "Memories of Murder" is close to a satire of a mystery movie. Some would say that this film is inspired by a true event but, even so, the way Bong translate it to the film is uncomfortably funny. In many scenes, we are taken to an interrogation room only to witness the absurd ways these detectives torture their suspects. However, the humor in Bong's film isn't without purpose. It's sometimes used to alleviate the tension when the story is getting dreary or to make fun of the reality when we start to feel uneasy. Either way, Bong uses it because he wants us to laugh at the politics of society.
Without giving much about this movie, the third act define what a great director Bong Joon-ho is. Disinterested to meet our expectations of how to end a crime movie, the final frame in "Memories of Murder" is his answer on who is the true fool in his story.
"Memories of Murder" is the perfect film to study the mind of Bong Joon-ho. He's whimsical yet stern and definitely a weird filmmaker.
4/5
