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 #215 | 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

When Kwang-Ho was investigated in the basement of the police station, the two police officers and a suspect watched a TV program while eating their meals. The title of this program is "Soo Sa Ban Jang" which can be loosely interpreted as "Investigation Squad" in English. It was a famous TV detective drama which was aired for almost twenty years. The opening music was also very popular during that time.

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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

Referenced in Biyeolhan geori (2006)
Movie poster is clearly seen in the background in one scene.

User Reviews

Jarringly disturbing and haunting film

I have long since heard of the excellence of this korean movie on koreanfilm.org, but it was only after reading the review in detail and realizing that the score was written by Taro Ishiwaro ( a well known Japanese musician who also wrote scores for Shohei Imamura and Japanese TV serials, including The Inanimate World ), and that the DOP was Kim Hyung-gu (who also shot Musa, One Fine Spring Day and Chen Kaige's Together) that it stumped on me I was indeed missing a masterpiece.

And a masterpiece it is, one deeply haunting and disturbing asian crime thriller. The mood invoked during the last few minutes of the film is something you would probably never forget.

Watch this film not only for its cinematic brilliance, but also because of the mezmerising score written by Taro Ishiwaro, track no 29 on the OST the favourite on my list.