Memories of Murder (2003) 🕵🏻‍♂️

 

   Oh lord! I am back for some mysteries, and child this is a really deep one.

   살인의 추억 or "Memories of Murder," tells a story based on true events, so now that you're going to watch it everything is going to be hard to digest, especially, when you realize those murders were real and unsolved.

   This movie remains impossible to categorize, it has some slapstick humor, real mystery, and a kind of drama. Likewise, it shows how remarkable each character's features are. For instance, we have Park Doo-man as the leader and detective in charge of solving the murders who is a kind of a despot, Cho Yong-Koo as a bad cop who constantly (and irrationally) beats the heck out of everyone, and Seo Tae-Yoon as the good cop and professional who agrees on helping those loons. 

Murders

   Every victim you see here was brutally and distinctively murdered. They were all gagged, beaten, raped, and finally strangled to death. We clearly see a pattern here that will show we are beholding what a serial killer does.

   

Potential suspects in murders

   No, I am not going to give the name of the murderer because there's not and yes, you read that right. In the picture above, every suspect you see was ruled out, but not before clearing their names by getting beaten. 

Detectives

   I'm not going to lie; they tried their hardest to be on track but seemingly the killer knew what he was doing. Bong Joon-Ho, director of the film, was satirically telling us "This all happened because of the corrupted system" Korea had back in the 1980s and early 1990s (the time when murders occurred). Throughout the movie, we gaze at how the cases led detectives on an odyssey of frustration and failure, perhaps, what also led them straight to failure was their completely different and inconclusive own opinions. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I say a look is worth a thousand, and it is this one up here.

   In the very end, we realize there is no solution. So, what's the point here? You may ask. Well at least, the real-life case was solved in 2019 and the actual killer was once and for all identified. And yes, he saw the movie. What Detective Park broke was the fourth wall just to see directly into the soul and make us question.

   The film is a bunch of feelings, it keeps you waiting on the edge of your seat for them to catch the monster, but then, you realize the movie is just an allegory of the events that occurred bygone days.

Rate: 4/5

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A highly recommended masterpiece by the same Parasite director