Memories of Murder is a South Korean film based on the true story of the country's first serial killer. Detective Park (Song) is called onto the case of a local girl who was raped and murdered. He and his partner, Detective Cho (R. Kim), use simplistic reasoning and torture techniques to get confessions out of innocent suspects. But they get nowhere. It isn't until Detective Seo (S. Kim) arrives from Seoul with his more sophisticated thought process that they start making progress in the investigation.
This movie, like director Bong's later film Mother, is one that sits with you and unsettles you. It's a movie that doesn't hit you until after you've soaked it all in, but it will leave you stunned before you can even piece together everything you've seen on an emotional and thematic level. Much like the Coen brothers' work, the compositions and camera movements feel utterly precise and necessary, as if there was no other possible way to shoot this than the way Bong did. The cinematography itself is stunningly beautiful, which you can easily tell as soon as the first shot shows up on the screen. The acting is, for the most part, also very good. However, due to poor acting near the end of the film, Detective Seo's transformation from good cop to bad cop felt written instead of natural. This is almost entirely due to Kim's over-acting, which only made his character's behaviors less believable instead of more. It's a real shame, because that kind of character evolution, if it had been done properly, could have easily propelled this film into the 4.9 arena. Instead, it becomes an excellent but very flawed film that I have no trouble recommending for any fan of the mystery crime thriller.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/