"Memories of Murder (Salinui chueok)" is an involving, cross-cultural take on the "L.A. Confidential" noir genre of a murder mystery with a political filter, layered with elements that gritty British TV detectives have mastered, from "Prime Suspect" on.
While co-writer/director Joon-ho Bong uses the conventions of the contrasting buddy cop movie, sometimes simplistically for comic effect, he has more social commentary on his mind than a captivating investigation into a serial killer and avoids the usual titillating gore fest.
Set specifically in 1986, the film visually captures the changes in industrializing, modernizing and politically restive South Korea, where new, dark, noisy factories were sprouting up in the middle of agricultural areas. From the opening shot that could be out of "Witness," we see a peasant bring what looks like a city sophisticated cop to a crime scene.
But that's just the start of the conflicting comparisons. We've seen enough "CSI"s to sympathize with him immediately as he hopelessly tries to secure the crime scene for clues despite a Keystone Cops-incompetent forensics and investigative team who keep sliding into the irrigation ditch. But he starts to seem a bit of a buffoon to us as he gives more credence to gossipy tips from his girlfriend than clues from the scene and he manufactures "evidence."
Our sympathies are curdled even more as we see him conduct an old-fashioned coercive interrogation of a developmentally disabled suspect -- and he's the good cop. Even without knowing anything about Korean law, it certainly looks like they are compromising the investigation, as his thug partner, who is nowhere as complex as Russell Crowe's Bud White, gets as out of control as a cartoonish "Lethal Weapon" cop, and that cop never grows and develops in the story beyond being a brutality enforcer so becomes a pathetic comic figure. Their complicit boss just seems ineffectual as he's clearly over his head with this kind of murder investigation.
But through the background TV broadcasts of demonstrations and civil defense alerts and drills, we gather that their interrogation procedures were more developed through oppressing political dissidents and forcing confessions than professional criminal detective work. Ironically, they ultimately can't get the resources they need in this difficult case because of these politically-drummed up time-consumers, especially for manpower and sophisticated forensic tools that they have to beg from the FBI.
The film changes tone and settles down into an intellectual thriller as a classic big city detective is sent from Seoul, and we have some of the interchanges we've seen in "In the Heat of the Night" and in "Insomnia," as the first cop now seems even more of a simpleton in his standard operating procedures of relying on his knowledge of the locals and instincts about human nature (though even a fellow officer teases him about whether he can tell apart a rapist and victim's brother), while the city guy is looking and listening for clues and real evidence, like a Korean "Dalziel and Pascoe." But the tension is ramped up as the killer keeps killing and the film starts showing us the murders as they are about to happen just as the cops are getting hints about his modus operandi and even after the police are on alert. Their frustration at not being able to stop him is grippingly conveyed by the lead actors, as each starts to abandon their usual procedures out of mounting frustration, and by the editing.
A droll side bar is that the macho team is given a key clue by a policewoman who they otherwise relegate to getting them refreshments. Their macho attitudes also keep them from learning vital clues from the marginalized men they pick up as suspects.
The coda in contemporary Korea is effective, reinforcing a sense of societal complicity is letting such murders happen and go on, though I was curious what happened to the city cop as well as the local guy. I had no idea until I read the IMDb message board that this was a based on a real case, so I appreciate even more that a cheap ending wasn't tacked on.
The cinematography and editing are terrific throughout, with many of the scenes in the dark and rain. Particularly dramatic are harrowing scenes along railroad tracks and a tunnel that are reminiscent of stark imagery from Mervyn LeRoy's "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang."
It is frustrating for English subtitle readers that not more of the Korean on the screen, such as newspaper headlines or heard, such as the TV broadcasts and pop tunes, isn't translated.
While co-writer/director Joon-ho Bong uses the conventions of the contrasting buddy cop movie, sometimes simplistically for comic effect, he has more social commentary on his mind than a captivating investigation into a serial killer and avoids the usual titillating gore fest.
Set specifically in 1986, the film visually captures the changes in industrializing, modernizing and politically restive South Korea, where new, dark, noisy factories were sprouting up in the middle of agricultural areas. From the opening shot that could be out of "Witness," we see a peasant bring what looks like a city sophisticated cop to a crime scene.
But that's just the start of the conflicting comparisons. We've seen enough "CSI"s to sympathize with him immediately as he hopelessly tries to secure the crime scene for clues despite a Keystone Cops-incompetent forensics and investigative team who keep sliding into the irrigation ditch. But he starts to seem a bit of a buffoon to us as he gives more credence to gossipy tips from his girlfriend than clues from the scene and he manufactures "evidence."
Our sympathies are curdled even more as we see him conduct an old-fashioned coercive interrogation of a developmentally disabled suspect -- and he's the good cop. Even without knowing anything about Korean law, it certainly looks like they are compromising the investigation, as his thug partner, who is nowhere as complex as Russell Crowe's Bud White, gets as out of control as a cartoonish "Lethal Weapon" cop, and that cop never grows and develops in the story beyond being a brutality enforcer so becomes a pathetic comic figure. Their complicit boss just seems ineffectual as he's clearly over his head with this kind of murder investigation.
But through the background TV broadcasts of demonstrations and civil defense alerts and drills, we gather that their interrogation procedures were more developed through oppressing political dissidents and forcing confessions than professional criminal detective work. Ironically, they ultimately can't get the resources they need in this difficult case because of these politically-drummed up time-consumers, especially for manpower and sophisticated forensic tools that they have to beg from the FBI.
The film changes tone and settles down into an intellectual thriller as a classic big city detective is sent from Seoul, and we have some of the interchanges we've seen in "In the Heat of the Night" and in "Insomnia," as the first cop now seems even more of a simpleton in his standard operating procedures of relying on his knowledge of the locals and instincts about human nature (though even a fellow officer teases him about whether he can tell apart a rapist and victim's brother), while the city guy is looking and listening for clues and real evidence, like a Korean "Dalziel and Pascoe." But the tension is ramped up as the killer keeps killing and the film starts showing us the murders as they are about to happen just as the cops are getting hints about his modus operandi and even after the police are on alert. Their frustration at not being able to stop him is grippingly conveyed by the lead actors, as each starts to abandon their usual procedures out of mounting frustration, and by the editing.
A droll side bar is that the macho team is given a key clue by a policewoman who they otherwise relegate to getting them refreshments. Their macho attitudes also keep them from learning vital clues from the marginalized men they pick up as suspects.
The coda in contemporary Korea is effective, reinforcing a sense of societal complicity is letting such murders happen and go on, though I was curious what happened to the city cop as well as the local guy. I had no idea until I read the IMDb message board that this was a based on a real case, so I appreciate even more that a cheap ending wasn't tacked on.
The cinematography and editing are terrific throughout, with many of the scenes in the dark and rain. Particularly dramatic are harrowing scenes along railroad tracks and a tunnel that are reminiscent of stark imagery from Mervyn LeRoy's "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang."
It is frustrating for English subtitle readers that not more of the Korean on the screen, such as newspaper headlines or heard, such as the TV broadcasts and pop tunes, isn't translated.