Memories of Murder (2003)
"Salinui chueok" (original title)

In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, raped and tied and gagged with her underwear. Detective Park Doo-Man and Detective Cho... See full summary »

Director:

Joon-ho Bong

Writers:

Joon-ho Bong, Kwang-rim Kim,

Stars:

Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim, Roe-ha Kim

Top 250 #213 | 14 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kang-ho Song	...	Detective Park Doo-Man
Sang-kyung Kim	...	Detective Seo Tae-Yoon
Roe-ha Kim	...	Detective Cho Yong-koo
Jae-ho Song	...	Sergeant Shin Dong-chul
Hie-bong Byeon	...	Sergeant Koo Hee-bong
Seo-hie Ko	...	Officer Kwon Kwi-ok
No-shik Park	...	Baek, Kwang-ho
Hae-il Park	...	Park, Hyeon-gyu
Jong-ryol Choi	...	Du-man's father
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mi-seon Jeon	...	Kwok Seol-yung
In-seon Jeong
Ha-kyeong Kim
Jae-eung Lee
Young-hwa Seo
Ji-ru Sung

Storyline

In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, raped and tied and gagged with her underwear. Detective Park Doo-Man and Detective Cho Yong-koo, two brutal and stupid local detectives without any technique, investigate the murder using brutality and torturing the suspects, without any practical result. The Detective Seo Tae-Yoon from Seul comes to the country to help the investigations and is convinced that a serial-killer is killing the women. When a third woman is found dead in the same "modus-operandi", the detectives find leads of the assassin.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | south korea | serial killer | mental retardation | serial murder | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [kr]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean English

Release Date:

2 May 2003 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Memories of Murder

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$4,487 (USA) (15 July 2005)

Gross:

$14,131 (USA) (29 July 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Muhan Investment, Sidus Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min 129 min 127 min (Filmfest Hamburg)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joon-ho Bong has stated that the script for Memories of Murder was directly influenced by Alan Moore's comic book From Hell, and that he was also "a bit disappointed with the Hughes brothers' film of it."

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Goofs

The letter from the FBI about the semen DNA testing is signed by director Clarence M. Kelly. Kelly was director from 1973-1978. William H. Webster was director in 1986.

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Quotes

Detective Park Doo-Man: Fuck, I don't know.

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Connections

References Body Heat (1981)
One of the suspects tells a cop that he watched Body Heat the other night. It is repeated several times as the cop writes it down using a typewriter.

User Reviews

Great serial killer drama

I'm one of those people who tend to think that South Korean movies are perhaps a bit too slow-paced for my taste. Memories of Murder isn't a fast-paced film, by any means, but this time the slow pace made this movie about an investigation of serial killings so much better than 95% of its American counterparts.

Essentially, Memories of Murder is a drama first with thriller and comedy elements (yes, in the first hour or so the movie is actually quite funny). Kang-ho Song and Sang-kyung Kim are brilliant as the two cops who have drastically different views on how to solve a crime. The character development is fascinating and believable thanks to a great script.

Highly recommended.