Memories of Murder

Dir: Bong Joon-ho

2003

*****

I came across Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murders by chance shortly after it was released in the UK. I was utterly blown away by how astonishingly good it was and how real it felt. Learning later that it was based on real events was a haunting revelation. Beginning in June 2000, it took Joon-ho Bong a year to write the script for the film, yet he has stated that: "For the first six months, I didn't write a line of the script. I just did research." Despite the film being based on a series of real murders in the Korean provincial town of Hwaeseong during the 1980s, Joon-ho Bong also drew a lot inspiration from a play called 'Come See Me' which dramatized the incidents, to the extent that he stated in an interview: "If it weren't for KIM Gwang-rim's play, I would have had a lot of problems establishing the structure." While he also 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." It begins in October 1986, a young woman is found raped and murdered in a ditch near a field. Soon after, another woman is found raped and murdered in a field. Local detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho), not having dealt with such a serious case before, is overwhelmed; key evidence is improperly collected, the police's investigative methods are suspect, and their forensic technology is near non-existent. Park claims he has a way of determining suspects by eye contact. He learns from his wife that a scarred mentally handicapped boy, Baek Kwang-ho (Park No-shik), resides in the town, and decides to question him first. He finds him and uses his eye contact method, instinctively thinking Baek is responsible. Park has his partner Cho (Kim Roi-ha) beat confessions out of Baek and secretly record him talking about one of the murders. Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung), a detective from Seoul, volunteers to assist them. However he and Park's methods apparently clash, and they get into a fight during a party. Seo looks at Baek's hands and deems them too weak and scarred to be able to commit such an elaborate crime, clearing his name. After more murders are committed they realize that the killer waits until a rainy night, and only kills women wearing red. A female police officer Kwon Kwi-ok realizes that a local radio station is always requested to play a particular song during the nights the murders are committed. Park continues to search for the killer, but finds nothing. At the latest crime scene, Park, Cho and Seo all arrive to investigate in different ways, but then a local man arrives, pulls out undergarments, and masturbates in a woman's red lingerie. Cho accidentally steps on a twig, prompting the man to run. They chase him into a crowd. Seo attempts to find a way to get everyone's attention, but Park identifies the man first after seeing him bend over and partially exposing the red lingerie underneath his pants. He uses his eye contact method once more, and has Cho apprehend him. Park and Cho continue their tactic and brutally beat the man. Upon learning from a survivor of the killer that his hands were soft, Seo manages to clear the man as his hands are very rough. Infuriated that they lost their suspect, Park scuffles with Seo, until Kwon alerts them that the same song the murderer requested is playing. They realize it's raining, and arrive too late to find another woman murdered. Park and Seo and Cho decide to all work together. Upon doing an autopsy of the latest victim, they discover pieces of what looks like a peach in the body. Seo talks to a school girl about a possible suspect, and supplies her with a distinct bandaid after she gets a shot on her waist. They follow a trail of clues to a factory worker Park Hyeon-gyu who had only moved to the area a short time before the first murder. They track the song using documents (a source that Seo always trusts, saying, "The documents never lie.") to his address. The detectives are initially unable to pin anything on him. However, Seo notes that his hands are soft, like the survivor he questioned earlier had described. Hyeon-gyu begins to show discomfort when Seo presents the peaches, and thinks he's found the killer. Before he can question more, Cho loses control and beats Hyeon-gyu, prompting their superior to fire him. Park and Seo listen to Baek's earlier confession to a previous murder. Seo points out that he talks as if someone else did it, and they realize he is a witness. They go to Baek's father's restaurant, only to discover a drunken Cho there. As people make fun of Cho on the TV, he beats everyone in the restaurant until Baek arrives and stabs Cho's leg with a rusty nail. Park and Seo chase Baek and question him, but he gets frightened and runs into the path of an oncoming train, where he is hit and killed. Park learns that Cho's leg will have to be amputated, because the rusty nail caused tetanus, leaving Park feeling guilty about what he had gotten his partner and best friend into. They discover a trace of semen on one of the bodies, but because of lack of forensic technology, the sample has to be sent to the United States to confirm suspect Hyeon-gyu with DNA evidence. Seo tries to follow Hyeon-gyu, but he dozes off and misses his chance. That night, Park's wife walks through the forest, watched by an unknown figure in the shadows, but a younger girl passes by and she is captured and killed instead. The next morning, her body is discovered. When Seo sees a bandaid on her waist, he recognizes her as the same school girl that he met on account of the murders and personalized with. Enraged at the loss of his new friend, Seo's frustrations finally flow over and he snaps. He attacks Hyeon-gyu, but Park brings documents from America regarding the semen sample. However, the papers state the sample does not match Hyeon-gyu's DNA. Seo decides to ignore the documents and chooses to believe Hyeon-gyu is the murderer. Seo attempts to shoot the suspect, but Park stops him and lets Hyeon-gyu go. In the end, the crimes remain unsolved. While visiting the crime scene years later in 2003, Park Doo-man, now a businessman, learns from a little girl that the scene had recently been visited by another, unknown man, with a 'nondescript' face. The little girl had asked the man why he was looking at the ditch, and was told that he was reminiscing about something he had done there a long time ago. Park Doo-man, apparently having an epiphany, looks directly at the screen; he uses his same method by making eye contact with the audience to search for (or actually find) the eyes of the killer sitting among them. It is one of my favourite South Korean films of all time, indeed, the commercial success of the film has been credited as saving one of its production companies, Sidus Pictures, from bankruptcy. Thankfully this meant that they could make one of my other favourite South Korean films; Save the Green Planet. While a total body count was never mentioned in the film, a total of 10 similar murders were committed in the Hwaseong area between October 1986 and April 1991. Some of the details of the murders, such as the killer gagging the women with their underwear, were also taken from the case. As in the film, the investigators found bodily fluids suspected to belong to the murderer in the crime scenes, but did not have access to equipment to determine whether the DNA matched with the suspects until late in the investigations. After the ninth murder, DNA evidence was sent to Japan (unlike the film, where it was sent to America) for analysis, but the results did not correspond with the suspects. As in the film, the actual murderer has not been caught. As the case was growing closer to reaching the statute of limitations, South Korea's leading Uri Party sought to amend the law to give the prosecutors more time to find the murderer. However, in 2006 the Statute of Limitation was reached and the killer could very well still be alive and still a threat. In order to make his character Detective Seo look properly worn-out by the stress of the case, actor Kim Sang-kyung deliberately limited his food intake and slept fewer hours. The performances are superb but it is Song Kang-ho who really steals the show. This marked the beginning of a brilliant actor/director collaboration between them and long may it continue. The ending was a nice touch but it wasn’t until I read that Bong Joon-ho added it because he was so confident that the killer would watch the film, did it really shake me. It is an incredible film.