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LONG ARMS OF THE LAW: Song Kang-ho (left) and Kim Sang-Kyong in “Memories Of Murder.” Photo: Arthaus
There was also life (and death) before “Parasite”.
THRILLER / DRAMA
“Memories Of Murder” (“Sarin ui che-eok)
South Korea. 15 years. Director: Bong Joon-Ho
Doctor: Song Kang-ho, Kim-Sang Kyong, Park Hae-il, Kim Roi-ha
“Parasite” (2019), the first Oscar winner for “Best Picture” in a non-English language, and it deserved it, did not come as a bolt from a clear sky.
Director Bong Joon-Ho had been making movies for almost two decades. And many will say that this, his second feature film, from 2003, was his first masterpiece.
INVESTIGATOR “ON THE TRACK”: Song Kang-ho in “Memories Of Murder”. Photo: Arthaus
To that I can add on my own: Almostmasterpiece. Semi-masterpiece. “Memories Of Murder” is not as well composed as Joon-Ho in his prime. Anyway, it is worth seeing.
Review of the movie “Parasite”: in a class of its own
Two women have died in Gyunggi province in South Korea. The investigators on the case are in deep water. They’re not necessarily the sharpest knives in the drawer, these folks, and they “see” potential suspects everywhere. The public is also hostile to the police, who believe they use torture (that’s correct).
UNPOPULAR INTERROGATION METHODS: Song Kang-ho in “Memories Of Murder.” Photo: Arthaus
The quality of police work improves when Detective Seo Tae-Yoon (Kim-Sang Kyong) arrives from the capital Seoul to help. You can write and read reports and documents, and you soon identify a number of similarities in the two, almost three, cases:
The women have been dressed in red. The assaults and murders have occurred in the afternoon, on days with a lot of rain. A sentimental pop song pruning also has a role to play in research.
YOU CAN WRITE AND READ: Kim Sang-Kyong in “Memories Of Murder.” Photo: Arthaus
Song Kang-ho, Joon-Ho’s favorite, and his fellow townspeople represent most of the black comedy in “Memories Of Murder,” where they roam like headless chickens, with a number of desperate theories up their sleeves. Example: No hair was found on the victims. So, must it be the bald Buddhist monks from the nearby temple who are behind him?
The story, based on true events, takes place in 1986, at a time when South Korea did not have the equipment to be able to verify DNA evidence from its own machine, but had to send it to the United States for analysis.
RAIN, RAIN, RAIN: Song Kang-ho in “Memories Of Murder.” Photo: Arthaus
The film gradually grows darker and more tragic, and is endowed with a melancholic coda that lingers on the body and head for days.
Visually, Joon-Ho is already the same here, whether his friend is in small, cramped rooms and restaurants, or capturing large, polluting cornfields, forests, and factories in pouring rain. Editing, composition and music: everything fits. If one no I like it virtuous as in “Parasite.”
Almost a masterpiece, yes.
