Memories of Murder (2003)

In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.

Director:

Bong Joon Ho

Writers:

Bong Joon Ho, Kwang-rim Kim (play)

Stars:

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

Top Rated Movies #177 | 26 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Hee-Bong Byun	...	Sergeant Koo Hee-bong (as Hie-bong Byeon)
Seo-hie Ko	...	Officer Kwon Kwi-ok
Tae-ho Ryu	...	Jo Byeong-soon
No-shik Park	...	Baek Gwang-ho
Hae-il Park	...	Park Hyeon-gyu
Mi-seon Jeon	...	Kwok Seol-yung
Young-hwa Seo	...	Eon Deok-nyeo
Woo Go-na	...	Kim So-hyeon
Ok-joo Lee	...	Oh Nam-joo
Jong-ryol Choi	...	Gwang-ho's father
Seung-mok Yoo	...	Journalist

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 Seoul 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.

---

Plot Keywords:

serial killer | based on true story | false evidence | 1980s | anti hero | 

---

Taglines:

Based on the true story of serial killings

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bong Joon Ho has stated that the script for Memories of Murder (2003) 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."

---

Goofs

In the letter received from the FBI written in English, there are four spelling mistakes - 'examnation' instead of 'examination', 'insrumental' instead of 'instrumental', 'dateed' instead of 'dated' and 'Octorber' instead of 'October'.

---

Quotes

Rape suspect: But... is wanking a crime?

---

Alternate Versions

The British DVD by Optimum Releasing has 5 minutes cut omitting the whole part of the film between the release of the last suspect and Detective Seo Tae-Yoon shadowing him. Therefore important scenes for the development of the story are missing, such as when the detectives are informed about the possibility of a DNA analysis of sperm found on one of the victim's clothes and that the sample has to be sent abroad because the required equipment is not in Korea. Also missing is the sequence where Detective Cho Yong-koo loses his leg and a scene with Kwok Seol-yung asking Detective Park Doo-Man to quit the police.

---

Connections

Referenced in A Dirty Carnival (2006)

User Reviews

Scapegoats Inc.

Memories Of Murder is based on a true story of a south-Korean little village in which someone begins to murder young women. The Police can't catch the killer so an agent comes from Seoul to give a hand in the investigation. Soon he'll find that local police's methods are rather brutal, and that they're most interested on finding a scapegoat, someone to blame in order to ease the in tranquility of the population, than on catching the real killer (according to the real facts, they never catched the author of those crimes).

The script is solid as a rock, and it's been filmed in a realistic style. trying to show the facts as they happened. Maybe they should've made a shorter movie, and cut some sequences out (the scenes of the interrogations to the three different suspects are a little bit reiterative), and the ending seems a little forced to me. Anyway, Memories Of Murder is much more effective and serious than the most of nowadays' Hollywood detective films.

My rate: 7.5/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean English

Release Date:

2 May 2003 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Memories of Murder

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Box Office

Budget:

$2,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,487, 17 July 2005

Gross USA:

$15,357

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,056,089

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Muhan Investment, Sidus

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min 129 min 127 min (Filmfest Hamburg)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1