FROM KOREA : MEMORIES OF MURDER

What makes a film original? Well, it’s not really just one thing, is it? Sometimes it’s a story, sometime it’s the performance of a certain actor or the decisions of an outstanding director… Sometimes it’s more than one thing… Take the Korean classic Memories of Murder ( Sal In Eui Choo Eok) . It’s basically the story of South Korea’s first serial killer – a true story. So, a common or garden cop-flick, right? I mean, more striking because of the fact that it is a true story we are talking about here, but all the same… The director however, it Bong-Joon Ho, one of South Korea’s great directors (we have written of him actually – check out the Host in our previous hosts). And this is a very typical, very Korean film… So when I said cop-flick if you thought of a “hard hitting cop” like Al Pacino or CSI (pick your favorite city) and I’m pretty sure a lot of you did so don’t deny it, you were wrong. Big time.
So, our story is set in a small town in rural South Korea. It has everything a small town out in the sticks needs, including a large factory (and a large population of workers) and a local police station with a few officials who consider themselves hard-hitting cops but who actually have never handled anything really tough in their lives. Murders are not unheard of, however when what seems “suspiciously” like a serial killer surfaces in their town everyone (including the police) is at a loss as to how to cope with the situation… The usual methods (yelling, lucky guesses, intimidation on various levels) don’t seem to be working when a young police officer, an expert in the field, comes down from Seoul to assist with their investigation voluntarily. He is not liked, he is not a “tough guy” like the detective in charge of the case, and he disapproves of the afore mentioned “tested methods” they like to use and he genuinely seems to think he’s better at the understanding this little town with his city ways… The thing is, as the case advances, it begins to seem in this last point he may be right… The thing is, will they be able to put their differences aside and get the killer off the streets?
What I like about Asian cinema – among other things – is the way there are various levels of different emotion and themes (as there usually are in Western films) but the way they are portrayed are so… Different. It’s just so subtle and, for want of a better word, graceful. For instance, in this serious and true story of a serial killer we find inserted a goodly strain of Korean style humor. The thing is, it is by no means inappropriate. Quite on the contrary, it gives a very appropriate picture of the small town officials trying to cope with an event the likes of which is rarely seen in rural Korea…