【转贴】《杀人的追忆》：Collected English Reviews

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:09

相关链接之主题整理：
http://www.krdrama.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=72893

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导演语录:

To the detectives who carry an unresolved knot in their hearts¡¦
It has been days since I've been home.
I am beginning to forget the faces of my wife and my children.
The Chief, the Superintendent, the Director-General, even the Secretary of the Interior-
they are all screaming for us to catch the killer within three days.
But the killer leaves no traces.
We lack the equipment, technology, people, everything.
Our shoulders droop and our eyes are bloodshot.
But we really, truly, desperately want to catch the killer.
We ran, through the rain, the snow-we ran and we ran.
But, in the end¡¦
We dedicate this film to the detectives who finally had to admit bitter defeat.

To the blameless women¡¦
In the cold night air, as the raindrops fell on bare skin,
when the soft hands of the killer slowly started to enclose around your neck,
in that moment of immense terror and despair that we could never imagine,
whose name did you call for the last time?

We dedicate this film to the ten women who, if not for those hellishly dark nights, would still be walking the country roads under the bright sun.
Finally, to you without a face¡¦
Who are you?
Where are you now?
Do you remember the women you killed?
Are you happy?
August 2002
BONG Joon-ho (director)

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Purity of Desire
an interview with Bong Joon-Ho by Tony Rayns (of B.F.I.’s Sight & Sound Magazine)

Bong Joon-Ho (b.1969) graduated from the Korean Academy of Film Arts in 1994 with what is still talked about as one of the wittiest and most original shorts ever made by an academy student. This was Incoherence (Ji Ri Myeol Ryeol, 28 Minutes), a social satire in four chapters, the last of which contains the venom. Bong went onto work as co-writer and assistant director on Park Ki-Yong’s Motel Cactus (1997) and as co-writer on Min Byung-Chun’s thriller Phantom, The Submarine (1999).

His own debut feature was Barking Dogs Never Bite, a notably original comedy-drama whose protagonists are variously dog-lovers, dog-haters and dog-eaters. This established Bong’s distinctive style: a skilful balance between dispassion and empathy, backed up by a sharp eye for social inequalities (Bong’s preferred English title for the film is A Higher Animal.) It did the rounds of festivals and picked up some prizes, but wasn’t much of a hit in Korea.

Since the commercial and critical success of Memories of Murder Bong has made two digital shorts: Sink and Rise (2003, seven minutes), a sequence shot vignette designed to be viewed on a third-generation mobile phone, made for a group project to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Korean film academy; and Influenza (2004, 30 minutes), a tragic life story told entirely through surveillance-camera footage, made for the Jeonju International Film Festival’s annual digital project. Both are terrific. He is currently preparing his third feature, to be centered on a monster like the one rumoured to inhabit Loch Ness.

This interview was recorded in Seoul in December 2003. Bong spoke mostly in English; grateful thanks to Kwan Jae-Hyun for occasional translation back-up.

Tony Rayns: Why a murder story?
Bong Joon-Ho: There’s an old tradition of crime movies in Korean cinema which are rather different from plot-oriented Hollywood thrillers, and I wanted to make something of that sort. The old-style Korean movies are essentially humane and emotional – that’s what I like about them. I’ve always loved crime stories; I read them all the time in middle school. I like seeing how people behave when they’re caught up in crime. And my first feature was about a serial killer of dogs.

The film is based on a series of real murders which began in 1986. How closely did you stick to the facts?
It was the first real case of serial murder in Korea, and I remember it being a sensation at the time. There were ten murders in all, spread over a period of six years, in and around a country town not far from Seoul. There was no financial or revenge motive; these were clear-cut rape-murders of women. Once I decided to make the film I started to do a huge amount of research. I became obsessed with the facts of the case. I went through all the newspaper reports and then began making interviews with people who’d been involved: journalists, detectives, townspeople who had lived there at the time. The person who had the strongest influence on me was an ex-cop who’d worked on the case. He broke down in tears several times as we talked. This put me in a quandary – I’ve never liked cops, maybe because of my student experiences fighting them, but talking to this man made me rethink. What struck me most was the purity of his desire to catch the criminal.
In writing the script I reduced the time-span to one or two years and reduced the number of victims. Most of the more gruesome details are taken directly from the official record. The murder of the schoolgirl, for instance, closely follows the most brutal of the real murders – but I added the detail of the Band-Aid. Actually, I filched it from Kubrick’s Lolita.

But your characters are fictional?
In 1996, there was a play about the serial murders called Come To See Me by Kim Gwang-Rim. I was working as an assistant director when I saw it. I ended up using several ideas from the play: the succession of three prime suspects, the link between the murders, and the playing of a song on a radio request-show. In reality, many detectives came from Seoul to join the investigation and the play dramatises the tension between them and the local police – but it shows them pursuing lines of enquiry independently of each other. I felt it would be more interesting if they had to work together and exchange roles. My producer Tcha Sung-Jai didn’t want to bother buying the rights to the play since the whole thing is based on fact anyway, but I liked some aspects of it enough to insist. The characters, though, are my own inventions.

The very first scene in the police station defuses the idea that you can recognise criminal `types´, and the climax leaves us unsure whether the criminal has been found or not.
Maybe the main theme is precisely the anonymity of crime. In reality, the murders were never solved. The more I researched the case, the more I came to feel that the general social-political situation of that time was as much to blame as any individual. I don’t know myself whether the third suspect is the real killer or not.

Given the pace of change in Korea, it must have been hard to recreate the mid 1980s.
Very, very hard. There’s almost nothing from the period left, even in rural areas. My production designer and I found sites in Jeollado Province which gave us what we needed, and we worked hard to exaggerate the feeling of the past by highlighting older props and buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. We used the railway to unify locations that are actually miles apart; the idea of setting the climax beside the railway tunnel came from that strategy. I’d already started shooting when an assistant director found that location and I decided to use it.
I wanted to emphasise time more than place, but I didn’t want to be too specific about it – so I ruled out the idea of showing President Chun Doo-Hwan on television, for instance. Of course, many people seeing the film in Korea have first-hand memories of the period.

As in `Barking Dogs Never Bite´ you bring in elements of superstition – but don’t take them very seriously.
The reality was funnier and more bizarre than anything in the film. A shaman advised the cops to strip naked at the seashore and bow to a bowl of sacred water. The chief of police actually did that. And while doing it they were mistaken for North Korean spies and had to run. I decided not to use that; I’m obsessed with what you can read in faces, so I stuck with close-ups of my lead actors.

Was the film hard to cast?
I had three of the leads in my mind while I was writing the script. Song Kang-Ho, who plays the local cop Park, had told me he was interested in working with me. Byun Hye-Bong, who plays the local chief of police, had played the janitor in Barking Dogs Never Bite. And I `discovered´ Park Hae-Il, who plays the third suspect, in the play – this was long before he starred in Park Chan-Ok’s Jealousy Is My Middle Name. I didn’t think of Kim Sang-Kyung for the role of the Seoul cop until I saw him in Hong Sang-Soo’s The Turning Gate. He came alive for me then in a way that never happened in his television dramas. Hong Sang-Soo introduced him to me, and he turned out to be exactly right.

I gave you a copy of Alan Moore’s graphic novel `From Hell´ when you visited the London film festival with `Barking Dogs´ , and you’ve said in many Korean interviews that it was a big help to you in writing `Memories of Murder´. How?
I was already interested in the Jack the Ripper case before I came to London. It’s one of the great unsolved serial murder cases, so it’s an obvious precedent for the Korean case, despite the very different context. I was curious to know how British authors had approached an unsolved mystery from a century ago, and I was very happy to find an entire `Jack the Ripper´ section in one London bookshop: fiction, essays, speculative solutions, the lot. One day before you gave me From Hell I’d bought Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, which turned out to be a primary source for Allan Moore. Reading From Hell was a revelation: Moore pushed me to start thinking less about actual killer and more about the spirit of the times which produced the murders. Moore ultimately blames the age itself.

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by biff

Re:What is the ending on "Memories of Murder"??"

Girl: Is something in there?
Is anything in there?

Park: No...

Girl: Then why are you looking?

Park: I'm just looking.

Girl: That's so weird.

Park: What is?

Girl: A while back, a man was here looking into that hole.
I asked him the same question.
Why he was looking there.

Park: What did he say?

Girl: What was it?
Right...
He remembered doing something here long ago,
so he came back to take a look.

Park: Did you see his face?
What did he look like?

Girl: Well...
Kind of plain.

Park: In what way?

Girl: Just... ordinary.

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by hwang

More important than the dialogue at the end is the closing shot. Upon hearing what the girls has to say and bit startled, Song Kang-ho gives a deep look into the camera as it pans out (if I remember correctly). This stare, as someone on this board noted, is supposed to be a message of sorts to the actual killer (should he be alive) sitting in the theater or at home watching the movie. Quite chilling.

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by Sang

I think the quaoted part was from my posting. If you didn't know about the back story, it might be hard to catch the meaning of ending. I will put some background story about this movie for better understanding.

MOM is a film adaptation of a theater play "Come to See Me!". The original playwriter once had a strange vision, that the mysterious serial killer lived ordinary and free life and came to see a play about serial murder and he realized that it was about his crime. The writer want to send a message to him. The title of play is directly citing the murderer.

Mr. Bong wanted to make this play a movie. He once told to the media "The first step of the punishment to this unthinkable crime is to remember what happened to the victims, to make him realize that we will never stop to find him."

There is another interesting story about making of MOM. Park Chan Wook also wanted to make the movie based on the same play "Come to see me!". But when he visited playwriter, he heard that Bong visited the writer just a few days ago and bought the story.

Disappointed, Park went to Bong and asked what was his next idea. Bong told him, after MOM he want to make a movie based on Japanese Manga called "Oldboy". "Oh, really?" Well, the rest, you already know. Actually, Park and Bong are very good friends, they are teasing each other for who stole whoes idea first.

But if Park went to the playwriter just a week earlier, we should have seen, Park's Memories of Murder and Bong's Oldboy.

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by feihong

I saw the stare somewhat differently. In pure story terms, it represents the former detective's frustration, the futility of his efforts and his innability to ever even come close to solving this case, all coming to a boil after years during which he supressed these emotions. Try as they might, the detectives in the story never really unearth a single useful clue as to the identity of the murderer; the climax to such a story is this welling-up of impotence following the revelation that he will never really learn the killer's identity, or apprehend him.

I suppose the interface with the killer in the audience is accomplished at the same time, but I find the story-bound reading much more resonant, as it echoes most strongly the predominant themes of the film, especially the evocation of the dominant cultural and political morays of the time that prevent the detectives from digging any deeper than they do.

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by Q

It might be of some interest to you that Bong Jun-ho's published screenplay actually ends with the back profile of the murderer slowly walking into and getting lost in the crowd somewhere in Seoul... I remember reading "KFC" and "Starbucks" so somehow it made me think of Daehangno... The decision to end the film with Song Kang-ho's stare seems to have been a later addition. Of course, this is the superior ending.

One deleted scene also shows that Kim Sang-kyung's detective encountering spectral presence of the real murderer, almost like a scene from a Gothic horror.

I "read" Song's stare as directly gazing at the audience... asking them, "Did you know about these murders? Where the heck were YOU when all this was going on? Do YOU know who the real murderer is? (And finally perhaps the implicit question... "Aren't we ALL the murderers?")" It sort of is an act of bringing back history and memory... my interpretation is totally opposed to what some Korean critics have accused the film of, that it encourages forgetfulness by providing the safety valve of a genre thriller for an ugly period of Korean history.

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by feihong

"encourages forgetfulness?" I find that very strange considering it's a major, widely-seen motion picture that recalls and focuses very specifically on the event. I think MOM is as far from an exploitative genre thriller as you can go--nothing about its handling is very ordinary, and it's such a meticulously observed motion picture that you never are watching it without thinking about what's going on. I couldn't say I ever found myself thinking of it just as a movie, just as entertainment: thoughout the picture I kept remembering and considering that it was essentially a true story.
http://www.koreanfilm.org/dc/dcb ... listing_type=search

[ Last edited by 阿韩 on 2004-8-13 at 03:11 AM ]

[ Last edited by 阿韩 on 2005-9-28 at 10:03 ]

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:24

by The Man

"Inspector Chief (from "Memories of Murder")"

Just a minor (or manini as we like to say here in Hawai'i; OK, OK, sorry, shameless plug for my hometown) question here for those of you who saw Memories of Murder (MOM) -- that show they're watching in that basement/interrogation room; the TV show called Inspector Chief. Is (or was) that an actual TV show? "MOM" shows only a few seconds of the opening of this Inspector Chief, but, looks riveting. Are the episodes available on DVD or something? Anybody know?

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by Oujin

Actually, there are some errors in both comments.
Inspector Chief ran nearly 20 years from the early 70's to the late 80's.
So it is completely believable that they watched the drama in 1986.
The theme music from this drama (that we could hear its opening part from Memories of Murder) is composed by Jazz percussionist Ryu Bok-Sung who is still active in his 60's.
The music has slick Big Band Jazz flavour very much like lots of American detective dramas from the 60's.
I found that Bong Joon-Ho was influenced by this drama quite a lot.
First of all, the setting is quite similar; inspector chief, three detectives and a female officer who always wears uniform.
The drama was more of a character studies and morality tale than a crime thriller.
Memories of Murder follows its footsteps to focus on the drama aspect.

As for the song 'Woman in the Rain', its a version by Jang Hyun - my favourite singer from the 70's. It's also one of Shin Jung-Hyun's great works.

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by toejam

"Memories of murder - Ending"

At first: Hello to this Forum!

I am new with Korean Films and got a lot of good recommendations in the last weeks, so I decide to join this community. Since I watched a couple of Korean DVDs, I must say that I'm very amazed how good these films are - also in comparison with the recent boring hollywood films.

Now to my question: Yesterday I saw "Memories...". I wonder, whom the little girl at the end of the film saw!? She said, she saw an "ordinary" man. But the suspected Murder (the handsome, "look-like-a-girl"-Guy) couldnt be meant!?

Thanks for clues, Michael.

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by zachip

the "ordinary men" is the real murderer (girl
said he told her that he remember "doing somthing"
in this place. remember that the policmen is the only one who
was at the scene who was "doing something"),
but no one knows how he looks.
girl said "ordinary". this is basically conclude the movie of the frustrated policmens who couldn't catch the killer until this day,
hence the title "memories of murder".

one of the greatest korean film of all time (up there with JSA).

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by Kevin

As zachip says, we're supposed to assume that it's the murderer. I have a few problems with the ending though. First of all, I thought it rather unnecessary to update the story so briefly, and the slight twist seemed somewhat forced to me, like something you might have seen on Hitchcock's TV show. Not unforgivable, but neither was it necessary.

Second, and a little more important, the movie is based on a true story. The murderer was never caught. If we draw the inference that we're intended to, the killer still lives but is leading a normal, sane, non-descript life. The women who died at his hands were just victims of a phease of his life which he was able to put behind him. But we don't know what happened. Perhaps the killings stopped because he himself died, perhaps he had a mental disease that did him in in the end, perhaps his next victim turned the blade on him. I have no problem with filmmakers taking some liberties when retelling true stories, but given the heinous nature and the brutal reality of his crimes, I wasn't comfortable having a fictitious interpretation forced on them just to wrap up the story with a little twist.

Interesting thought, though: what if the killer *is* still alive and has seen the movie?

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by Sang

"Interesting thought, though: what if the killer *is* still alive and has seen the movie? "

That was the idea and motivation for the original play which the movie was based on. The original title of the play was "Come to see me" and it referes the murderer himself.

Director Bong followed this idea. He assumed that the murderer is still out there and may have lived normal happy life inspite of his horrible sins.

He, like original play writer, want to show him that we still remember and will never forget what happened to victims and challange him to visit theater to see play (or movie). That was what Bong told in the interview about "the first punishment for the murderer is to remember what he did."

The last scene was intended as so. The detective's eyes with fear and fury were looking with hunger for the murderer who might be sitting right in the theater.
http://www.koreanfilm.org/dc/dcb ... listing_type=search

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阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:26

by Darcy

Memories of Murder

Between the years of 1986 and 1991, a small village in Korea's Gyeonggi Province was witness to the rape and murder of 10 women, all in the same groteque and brutal manner. Korea had never before experienced serial murders of this kind, and an intense media frenzy and police investigation followed. As the murders continued to take place over the years, investigators grew more desperate, at one point even consulting a shaman who advised them to move the gate of the police station to a more favorable location (which they did, to no avail). Ultimately all their efforts would be in vain, and to this day nobody knows who the murderer was or whether he is still alive.

In 1996, the poignant memories of this incident were reshaped into a successful stage play directed by Kim Kwang-rim. The dramatic intensity of the story attracted the interest of several filmmakers who wished to make a film of the material, but ultimately it would be Bong Joon-ho, the talented director who debuted in 2000 with Barking Dogs Never Bite, who would be charged with the task. Bong took the stage play and, consulting historical documents, wrote a screenplay focusing on two of the police investigators. Bong's primary addition to the material was to highlight the era in which the murders took place -- a time in which the Korean populace was struggling to shake off its authoritarian and militaristic past.

The end result is perhaps Korea's biggest event film since Joint Security Area, a masterfully directed, superbly acted film which is at turns blackly humorous, thought-provoking, and horrifying. The film stars top actor Song Kang-ho (JSA) and Kim Sang-kyung (Turning Gate) as two investigators, the former a local policeman and the latter a detective who comes from Seoul to assist in the case. The first part of the film focuses on the two men's characters and the rivalry that builds between them. As time passes, however, the narrative becomes more complex, as our leads begin to transform under pressure and as we see references to the social situation in Korea at the time, when the government was too busy suppressing its own citizens to put resources into a proper investigation.

Although this movie features one of the best performances ever from Song Kang-ho, one of Korea's most talented actors, the film's amazing ensemble cast almost succeeds in stealing his spotlight. Minor characters such as the old police chief (played by Byun Hee-bong), the slightly retarded Baek Kwang-ho (played by theatre actor Park No-shik, who now has his own fan club), violent investigator Yong-gu (Kim Rae-ha, in his most prominent role to date), Song Kang-ho's girlfriend Sul-young (played by Jeon Mi-seon, who was Han Suk-kyu's old flame in Christmas in August) and the new police chief (Song Jae-ho, also in Double Agent) are only a few of the memorable characters created by this skilled cast. Park Hae-il from Jealousy Is My Middle Name also takes a role towards the end of the film that is sure to stay in the memory of viewers.

Another impressive aspect of this film are its visuals. The production set a record for using the most locations in any Korean film to date, in an effort to recreate the underdeveloped rural landscape of the mid-80s. Director of photography Kim Hyung-gu (who also shot Musa, One Fine Spring Day and Chen Kaige's Together) creates striking images out of ordinary objects, with earthy browns and yellows painting an unforgettable portrait of small town life.

Recently, many critics have begun saying that Korean audiences no longer appreciate good films, that they prefer instead the light comedies that have dominated the box-office over the past couple years. The smashing popular success of Memories of Murder now acts as a counterweight to that argument, signalling that ambitious, serious, well-made productions in Korea still have potential if they can capture the imaginations of ordinary viewers. (Darcy Paquet)
fm：koreanfilm.org

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:39

by Janick Neveu

Story: In 1986, two female bodies were discovered in the Gyunggi Province. Both had been brutally raped and murdered in similar circumstances. Korean police now faced the first serial killer case in their country. Detective Park Doo-Man is leading the case and with the help of his aggressive partner, they will try to figure out who the potential killers are, but without much success.
However, things change when Seo Tae-Yoon, a member of the Seoul metropolitan police department, volunteers to help the investigation. With his meticulous approach to the case, it won’t take long for Seo Tae-Yoon to come up with strong evidences and clues about the identity of the murderer. But they need to act fast as they think that other murders might occur very soon. Unfortunately, the poor police methods of the time and the unavailability of high technology for blood-identification resulted in a disastrous conclusion for the case.

Review: Based on true events that took place in Korean from 1986 to 1991, Memories of Murder is not your typical serial killer movie. Instead of focusing on the murder scenes and shocking images like most conventional serial killer films, the movie puts much more time and details into the story, the situation of the time and the strong leading characters. These factors all put together by director Bong Joon-Ho resulted in a memorable cinematographic experience.

The background of the story is very well known in South Korea, some people even call it the Korean Jack the Ripper as the case has never been elucidated. During the time of the theatrical release, the movie received a very strong reaction from the population as the movie accurately shows how unfair potential killers were treated at the time and how unprofessionally the police proceeded in tracking the real assassin. There was even pressure from the public to reopen the case but unfortunately the authorities said that there’s not enough evidences left since the case was closed more than 10 years ago.

However, there’s one big question here, since the killer was never arrested in real life, then it means that we already know the ending right? So what’s the point of a serial killer movie if we already know the ending? Well, there might not be a totally unexpected punch line at the end of the film but the great flow of the story, the frustration witnessing the many problems the investigators are facing, the strong characters supported by incredible actors and the very high tension during the murder scenes will keep you hooked all along for sure. This approach is very refreshing, especially if you experienced other recent Korean thriller movies (with very few exceptions of course), which failed due to their weak plot and poor conclusion.

If you are familiar with Korean comedy, I’m sure you’ve heard about Song Kang-Ho. One of the top Korean actors of the moment who also appeared in numerous classic Korean comedies such as The Quiet Family and Foul King, and also in much more serious movies such as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and J.S.A. Again Song Kang-Ho gives an incredible performance, his character is unlikable but he also brings a bit of humor along with his seriousness. The Seoul cop, played by Kim Sang-Gyeong is also a very interesting character. Very clever and serious, he is the total opposite of his partner. There’s a lot of tension and competition between these two characters as they both use different investigation methods and they both want to prove that they are right.

The thriller aspect is really toned down in this movie, as there are only a few scenes that actually show dead bodies of the victims or when the killer is stalking new prey. The make-up is very realistic but doesn’t appear on screen very often. Don’t expect a pint of blood and gruesome gory stuff here, as you will be very disappointed. The movie was based on a true event and that is probably why the killings are realistic and believable and not over the top gory.

Director Bong Joon-Ho (Barking Dogs Never Bite) did an incredible job at transcending this terrible part of Korean history on the big screen. Even if the editing is simple, but nonetheless effective, the landscape of the countryside is extremely well shot and gives a great artistic look to the movie. Memories of Murder is surely one of the best South-Korean movies made during 2003.With an emotive script and deep characters, the movie is sure to leave its mark on the audience, don’t miss it!
DVD [ Region 1- 3 NTSC ] :

The movie is available in two different packages. First the limited edition, which is probably out of print now, comes in a hard cover box set including the 2 DVD set, 4 post cards and a book with the Director's Storyboard. The box is about the size of 2 DVD boxes, so if fits very well on your DVD shelf. The regular edition, which consists of the same DVD set, has an incredible anamorphic widescreen transfer. The sound is in DD5.1 and a great DTS 6.1. The English subtitles are excellent too. The many extras (without English subs) consist of Audio Commentary, Making of the Film, Still Gallery, Trailer, Real case investigation and an Easter Egg. Korean special editions always impress with their amazing packages, if it was not missing subs on the extras, they would be perfect. If you are a fan of box-sets get the Limited edition at any cost, the Region 1 LOTR box set look’s low quality compared to it. But for those who are only looking to get the movie, the simple 2 DVD set is a great buy.

Reviewed by Janick Neveu

http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews ... memoriesmurder.html

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:44

Melancholy humorous drama was the big hit of 2003 with press and audiences in Korea. The film is set in 1986, when Korea was ruled by a repressive military regime and the police did their best to hunt the first Korean serial killer.

In the countryside, not far from Seoul, between 1986 and 1991 a murderer and rapist was active. It was the first 'recorded' serial killer in Korea. About these still unsolved crimes, Bong Joon-Ho (Barking Dogs Never Bite) made the black comedy Memories of Murder, that was one of the largest cinema hits in South Korea in the last year. Bong's attention is not so much focused on the murderer, as on the men who have to catch him. The local police, led by the bruiser Park, use unorthodox and unacceptable means to try and get concessions out of the obvious suspects. The arrival of the routined, methodical big-city detective Seo of course leads to conflicts within the police force. With a fresh gallows humour, Memories of Murder keeps wrong footing the viewer, as if the characters are resisting their own clichés. They are all antiheroes, who are powerless through the context of their investigations: the dictatorial and military state of South Korea of the 1980s when oppression is a regular part of life and which is petrified in the idea of the Cold War. The result is a drama with a moving and shocking undertone, that smoothly changes in tone: from comedy to psychological detective to socio-historic document. But above all, Bong's second feature is funny and exciting.
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/film/25909.html

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:49

Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder is, on its surface at least, a fairly standard real-life serial killer drama that follows a trio of Korean detectives as they attempt to track down a murderer over the course of three years. Typical of the genre, there's a good-cop / bad-cop sensibility at work and a series of frustrating red herrings, but most of this movie’s pleasures don't have that much to do with its genre. For example, even though many of the details in the movie’s script are too schematic to have been lifted from reality, there’s a great sense of time and place that reverberates throughout. Scenes showing air raid drills and focusing on pop songs surely must resonate with a Korean audience and give this story, which essentially details the gradual corruption of a small farm town, a real sense of time and place. When the police find a photo album found in one suspect’s apartment, it seems apparent that as much as it’s concerned with “murder”, the film is occupied with “memory”. As a character study and a portrait of a town’s gradual corruption, the film is surprisingly rich, as well. An early attempt by the police, who have a reputation among the populace for brutality and evidence tampering, to pin the crime on a retarded local makes it tough for the audience to accept the morality behind their actions in the future.

   Near the start of the film, a city cop volunteers to help the small-town policemen, who seem to be in over their heads. An escalating series of perversions hidden behind the town’s placid exterior, seem to color his facile conception of country life, and the uncertainties that he discovers in the facts of the case destroy his notions of justice. The officer in charge of the small town’s investigation is somewhat corrupt from the get-go, but is frustrated when his strong-arming doesn’t get him his man. The movie’s abundant comic scenes do a great job of illustrating how, over the course of a long investigation, the distinctive personalities and sensibilities of the two lead characters began to blur. All the way through the film, the focus remains on the police officers, with the murderer remaining frustratingly elusive throughout. The scene when we first finally see the man who is presumably murderer on screen is genuinely exciting, and it adds real urgency to the subsequent investigative sequences.  Though it's never really gory, there are gross-out moments throughout Memories of Murder (some vomiting, an amputation, a train accident, etc…) that exhibit that typically Korean flair for the disgusting. Visually the movie is rather sophisticated, with compositions that often feature action on multiple planes and a tendency toward imagery that mixes outright poeticism with a queasy proximity to death. A coda, set in the present, comes up slightly short of being chilling, but otherwise, Memories of Murder offers a ruminative and affecting approach to a genre not known for its emotional content.



59

09-15-03

Jeremy Heilman

http://www.moviemartyr.com/2003/memoriesofmurder.htm

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:51

The year’s biggest critical success in Korea (commercial, too: four million admissions and counting), Bong Joon-Ho’s follow-up to Barking Dogs Never Bite is inspired by the crimes of South Korea’s first recorded serial killer. In 1986, in a rural area of Gyeonggi Province, not too far outside Seoul, someone began raping and killing women. The film is set in the first year of the crimes, and centres on the efforts of the local police and an officer from Seoul to sift evidence, identify patterns, follow up leads and interrogate suspects. Some of the plentiful gallows humour springs from the obvious clash in method and temperament between the intuitive and poorly educated local cops and the more sophisticated urban detective, but nothing works out in quite the way you expect. Bong’s point is that all the characters, cops, suspects and victims, are in some sense prisoners of the ‘backward’ Korea of the mid-80s: still under dictatorial military government and martial law, inured by a Cold War mentality to acts of violence and cruelty. Fundamentally serious – and achingly moving, especially in its closing scenes – the film is also grimly funny and quite deeply shocking.

Tony Rayns
http://www.lff.org.uk/films_details.php?FilmID=169

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:53

Memories of Murder (2003)
by Alexander Rojas
This is one of the best films of 2003, and we'll bet you've never even heard of it.

Perhaps it's my unfamiliarity with most of Korean cinema's past and current history, but several recent South Korean cinematic masterpieces has made me take notice of the films this Asian country is producing, therefore causing me to place South Korea on a short list of countries (Mexico, Brazil and Iran included) currently producing the most interesting and exciting films. Films such as Shiri (Je-gyu Kang), Nowhere to Hide (Myung-Se Lee), My Wife is a Gangster (Jin-gyu Cho) have all gained wide pop appeal for Korean cinema, while films such as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Chan-wook Park) and Memories of Murder (Joon-ho Bong) have garnered respectability and excitement for the cinematic depths these filmmakers have accomplished.  Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance impressed the hell out of me in its stylization of art direction, cinematography and editing.  Memories of Murder continues this feat with an absolutely impressive script and mesmerizing performances.
Memories of Murder is set in South Korea during the military dictatorship of 1986.  In a small and secluded rural area two detectives investigate a series of related murders and rapes.  They torture their suspects into confessing to crimes they may or may not be involved in, but their methods are brought into question once an urban detective volunteers himself in the investigation of the murders.  Although the new detective brings a professional and experienced approach to the investigations, the murders continue to escalate in an alarming rate, haunting the desperate detectives.  The films narrative structure is straightforward and traditional, but it allows for a compelling story that builds with each scene.  The sense of urgency is rooted throughout the film, which maintains our attention and focus on the stories development.

Although the film can be violent and serious at times, there is an element of dark humor throughout it.  Interjecting humor into a true-life story of a series of unsolved murders can be a difficult task to balance and maintain in a film without losing or distracting the audience.  Memories of Murder successfully accomplishes this feat and a tremendous amount of praise should go to the screenwriters of this film: Joon-ho Bong, Kwang-rim Kim and Seung Bo Shim.

However, what stands out the most in this film is the remarkable cast.  Early in the film a brash detective, Du-man Park (Kang-ho Song), without much evidence other than speculation, arrests whomever he considers suspicious and forces false confessions out of the detainees.  His tactics are unprofessional and unethical.  Once Seoul detective Tae-yun Seo (Sang-kyung Kim) volunteers his services to the investigation, personalities clash and both actors brilliantly play off each other.  Kang-ho Song especially stands out with his characters defiance and insecurities towards Tae-yun Seo.  His performance starts from a child-like charisma and curiosity and progresses to an adult level of maturity and responsibility.  His character arc is subtle, but dramatic.

My praising of this film finally ends with the director Joon-ho Bong.  Coming off the critical success of his directorial debut Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Bong succeeds once again in making an astounding film that demonstrates his astonishing visual storytelling skills.  Memories of Murder thrives in not being a crime film that places so much emphasis on figuring out who the killer is, but rather a crime film that explores the characters and the environment caught amongst the terror of the killer.

Alexander Rojas is a filmmaker in the southwest side of Chicago.  That's right, southwest side of Chicago...an' wha?!

http://www.filmmonthly.com/Video ... moriesofMurder.html

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 05:56

Memories of Murder

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Based on true events in South Korea, where a series of brutal rapes/murders were taken place, leaving the police force confused as to who's the killer.
COMMENTS

This movie really surprised me. Although I've read a lot of positive reviews on this, I was expecting to be a decent flick, but never expected it to be as good as it turned out to be. This is probably one of the best Korean flicks I've seen and that's thanks to the excellent performances and intriguing story.

The plot behind this flick is based around true events that occured in South Korea through '86 to '91, which baffled the police force. Around this time South Korea was still under the rule of the military government, which is why a siren is sound after a certain time, which is basically a curfew and anyone out after that time will be questioned. It is around this time that all the rapes and killings seem to occur. The movie basically follows two detectives in their pursuit of the mad-man behind these drastic murders. As we watch the movie we're given clues and such, that lead to a pattern of all the killings, but in the end there's no true explanation behind it. The movie is raw and brutal, but the thing is, there really isn't much for on-screen deaths. They always show what happens afterwards, and sometimes show events in flashbacks.

What I really liked about this flick was how it kept me guessing as to who the killer could be. They had a lot of prime suspects, but each one basically had an alibi or there wasn't enough evidence, which would continuously keep us guessing. The movie is a little over two hours long and not one minute was I bored. It hooked me from the start and keep me going until the end. The movie's tone for the first half is a bit light-hearted, with some humor thrown here and there, but not enough to make it tedious or pointless to the rest of the story, which is a good thing. After the second half things get more serious and most of the humor is gone. This is when the story really kicks into high-gear, especially since they start narrowing down the suspects.

The music was well placed and the film had a haunting mood throughout, which was mainly due to the murders taking place in isolated areas at night, while it was raining. In the end, this was an exceptionally good flick. I would have liked to give it a higher-rating, but I felt an 8 was best-fitting and it's still enough to add it to the "Recommended Movies" list. I even liked the dark, but somehow touching, ending. This movie has been nominated and won many awards, and I wouldn't be surprised if it made its way to the US sometime. For now I'll have to hang onto the South Korean 2-disc Special Edition, which I got from Poker Industries.

OVERALL

A very good South Korean crime/thriller that keeps you guessing from start to finish. Definitely worth a check if you're into Asian flicks or just starting up. Check this baby out!
http://www.upcominghorrormovies. ... emoriesofmurder.php

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-6-19 06:01

MEMORIES OF MURDER
Reviewed February 2004 by Andrew Smith.

Based on real life events Memories of Murder tells the story of the brutal rape and murder of young women in 1986 in the Gyunggi Province of Korea, and in particular a small provincial farming community. We join Investigator Park as he tries, in vain, to protect the crime scene of the second victim from being ruined by hordes of reporters and onlookers who trample all over the evidence. Arriving back at the station Park is confronted by the Chief of Police. He has called in Inspector Loh from the city to assist Park in the investigation, after all, they are now dealing with a serial killer, and Park has no experience in such cases. Determined to solve the case before Loh can, Park and his thuggish partner, acting on a piece of idle gossip, arrest a local retarded boy disfigured by facial burns sustained in a suspicious accidental fire. Park employs his usual tactic of holding a suspect without counsel, in the police basement, deprived of sleep, and beaten until they confess. This works wonders until at a big press conference where the arrested murderer is paraded joyfully by Park and the Chief, the accused recants his confession…and another body is found. Park is then forced to work with Loh, a more thoughtful, methodical man who believes that the details, and the paperwork will catch the killer.

Memories of Murder is a haunting and disturbing cop drama which, on the surface, appears to be another reluctant buddy movie. But to dismiss it as such is a mistake. Director Bong Joon-Ho has produced a thoughtful and evocative film that languishes indulgently to slowly build tension. Focussing on the human side of the story we follow the investigation from the point of view of the two police inspectors as they utilise their particular talents to track down the murderer. Bong Joon-Ho is not afraid to point accusing fingers at the bungling authorities and their incompetent techniques. The palpable terror building in a community unfamiliar with the typically Western concept of a serial killer is layered expertly. Pitch-black humour, usually from Investigator Park, will have you chuckling. The scenes when he is checking out the naked men at all the local saunas is particularly funny – this on the basis that as no pubic hair was found at the scene the killer must be shaved down below. He even suggests to his Chief that he pulls in a few of the local monks to give them a work over in the basement.

The acting of the two leads is excellent. Despite finding the techniques employed by Park reprehensible, we still feel his anguish and frustration as he struggles out of his depth, with a clever and elusive killer. The insight into Korean culture and lifestyle circa 1986 is also fascinating for a western viewer. Directing style is kept fairly simple and linear, but this allows the viewer to focus solely on the story. This is an extremely enjoyable movie, and I encourage you to give it a go. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Picture 8
Framed at an anamorphic 1.85:1 the print quality is superb. Bags of detail is evident from the opening scenes in the brightly lit cornfields with the sun streaming through, to the dense woodland in the moonlight as the suspected murderer is chased on foot. Colours are neutral and the skin tones are produced realistically. Contrast is wide and detail is maintained in shadow and highlights. This is a very impressive print.

Sound 8
Yes folks that rare beast a DTS ES soundtrack, and a corker it is too. Although only half rate at 768kbps we are still treated to beautifully sharp and focused vocals, even though I didn’t understand a word, with a natural openness and warmth. This is balanced nicely to the front soundstage, which is a little restricted except in one notable scene when a suspect is chased along a train track. Here the front really opens up prior to an inevitable crunching impact. Most of the surround channels provide an ethereal ambience with a delicate yet haunting score, and the clattering of the rain which serves as an indication that the killer will strike again.

Those of you without the ability to hear the DTS track need not be disappointed. The DD is almost as good, lacking only some of the depth and warmth of its DTS brother. Dialogue is punched up by +4dB, but the DD track is still not as loud as the DTS, and does not go as low. I suspect this is why it lacks that warmth. DTS a winner then, but not by much.

Extras 3
This two disc affair is absolutely packed with extras. Disc one has two full-length commentary tracks, and disc two has scores of features ranging from the casting sessions of the lead actors to the CGI effects now so eponymous in a modern movie, and on to the movies release in front of hundreds of screaming Korean fans. So why so low a mark then. Well it is all in Korean and is not subtitled. If feature count determined the score, or if you speak Korean then extras would probably warrant an 8, but if you don’t fall into either of those two categories then your enjoyment is severely limited.

Verdict 8
I was very impressed. This movie is reminiscent of Narc or Training Day in its tone, and matches them both in terms of story and suspense, add to that an excellent audio visual presentation and you have a movie that will fascinate, intrigue and entertain. Pity about those extras though.

http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?reviewid=10394

阿韩 · 发表于 2004-8-13 03:09

The Film

In 1986, South Korea was governed by a military dictatorship headed by President Chun Doo-hwan. In October of that year, the body of a woman was found in a field in Hwaseong, a small village in the Gyeonggi Province. She had been bound, raped, and choked to death with one of her own stockings. It was the first in a series of killings that continued until 1991. The crime remains unsolved.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder01.jpg

The mystery surrounding South Korea's first serial killer inspired the successful stage play Come See Me a few years later in 1996, and given the potency of the material, a cinematic adaptation was almost inevitable. After interest from a number of different parties, the directorial duties were eventually assigned to Bong Joon-ho, who had debuted in the year 2000 with the well-regarded black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite. Realising the gravity of the material, and partly inspired by Alan Moore's From Hell, a well-researched graphic novel about Jack The Ripper that inspired the film of the same name, Bong Joon-ho studied as much relevant material from the time as he could before beginning work on the screenplay for Memories Of Murder.

Perhaps learning a lesson from the numerous lacklustre films about Jack The Ripper, rather than asking who committed the murders, a question that can probably never be satisfactorily answered, Memories Of Murder instead addresses the potentially more interesting question of precisely why the crimes were never solved.

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Taking this approach, the film inevitably focuses more on the detectives assigned to the case than on the murderer. Inspector Park Du-man (Song Kang-ho), a small-town detective used to solving crime with his fists rather than his brains, leads the initial investigation. Inspector Seo Tae-yun (Kim Sang-kyung), a detective from Seoul, volunteers to assist in the investigation and the combination instantly leads to conflict. Park, threatened by the newcomer's city background and education, reacts angrily to what he sees as interference from an outsider. Seo, dismissive of Park's primitive and sometimes morally reprehensible methods, ignores the efforts of his colleagues and conducts his own independent investigation. However, Park eventually realises the futility of his usual approach and reluctantly begins to pay more attention to the efforts of Inspector Seo, only to discover that the city detective is equally out of his depth, forced to use out-dated and unprepared police resources to hunt a killer who leaves no clues. As the murderer claims more victims, the horror and frustration take their emotional and professional toll and the pair are pushed to breaking point.

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Bong Joon-ho directs the film with a skill and judgement that Barking Dogs Never Bite merely hinted at, carefully balancing a surprising level of humour with moments of high drama and suspense. Background details and references unobtrusively establish time and place, and the horrific nature of the murders is conveyed but not exploited.

Bong Joon-ho is not the only contributor to excel. Song Kang-ho, who gained a reputation as one of South Korea's finest actors after his roles in such films as Joint Security Area and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, turns in possibly his finest performance as Inspector Park. Although given less screen time, Kim Sang-kyung, previously seen in The Turning Gate, is far from overshadowed by his more experienced colleague, and a great deal of the emotive power of the film's final act stems from the pair's passionate and entirely convincing performances. In fact, there is not a bad performance in the film, with many of the supporting players creating memorable characters despite the limitations of their respective parts.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder04.jpg

The acting is matched with technical excellence on all fronts, from Kim Hyeong-gyu's sepia-toned cinematography to Taroh Iwashiro's moody score. The combination of talents all operating at their highest level produces a potent film of undeniable quality that functions as both an effective serial killer drama and a commentary on the damaging effects of a military dictatorship.

Despite being ignored by many film festivals, Memories Of Murder deservedly won three prizes at both the San Sebastián International Film Festival and South Korea's own Grand Bell awards.

The DVD

The original release of Memories Of Murder was a limited edition box set that sold out almost immediately upon release. The standard edition contains the same two DVD discs but lacks the accessory items included with the box set. Both discs are encoded for Regions 1 and 3.

Picture

The otherwise excellent 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is only marred by very occasional print flecks. There is a good level of detail, blacks are strong but not at the expense of shadow detail, and the autumn-hued cinematography is nicely presented.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder05.jpg

Sound

Memories Of Murder is presented with a DTS 6.1 ES surround mix that easily matches the quality expected of a Western film. The sound is rich and defined, with appropriate use of the rears for the score, spot effects and ambient sound, most notably in the film's frequent rainy scenes. The Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack is nearly a match for the DTS, but has slightly less warmth and focus.

Subtitles

The English subtitles by Darcy Parquet and Yeon Hyeon-sook are excellent, well-timed and with no grammatical errors.

Menus

The film disc features three different randomly-selected sets of easy-to-navigate animated menus, all of which feature a mixture of Korean and English text. The menus for the extras disc, like its content, are entirely in Korean.

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http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... sofmurdermenu02.jpg
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Extras

As increasingly seems to be the case with Korean DVD releases, Memories Of Murder is packed with exhaustive bonus materials, though disappointingly, as usual, none include English subtitles.

The first disc in the set includes two full-length audio commentaries, the first featuring the director, cinematographer and production designer, and the second again including the director, but this time alongside cast members Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung and Park No-shik.

The rest of the special features are sensibly confined to the second disc, starting with a section containing five short featurettes covering different aspects of the filmmaking process. These range in length from two minutes to nearly eight minutes and all consist of on-location footage, on-set clips, and interviews with the director and crew.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder06.jpg

The next section looks at nine characters from the film, with clips from the movie, comments from the director, and interviews with the relevant actors. These range in length from three to six minutes.

More interviews and on-set footage are presented in two further making-of segments running for seventeen and twelve minutes respectively.

Features about the set and production design, clothing and make-up, the film's invisible use of CG effects, and the original score come next, clocking in at eleven, twelve, five and fourteen minutes respectively.

The next section provides a break from all the interviews, instead consisting of fifty-six on-set photographs and a single on-set painting presented in four separate galleries, divided according to the photographer or artist.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder07.jpg

Seven deleted scenes, totalling around fourteen minutes in duration, come next. These are available either with or without commentary. The scenes all serve to further develop characters or flesh out certain plot points but are otherwise inessential.

A section devoted to promotional material contains two theatrical trailers, a TV spot, publicity photo-shoot coverage, and footage from the press screening. The latter features a few faces that should be familiar to Korean cinema aficionados.

The last option on the disc gives access to a list of credits over a montage of on-location footage.

Finally, an Easter Egg gives access to a seven-minute featurette in which Bong Joon-ho discusses the research he made into the Hwaseong serial murders before embarking on the film.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder08.jpg

Although the bonus materials provide a detailed look at all aspects of the filmmaking process, a documentary about the real-life killings would have been a welcome addition, and one that would have added further resonance to the film.

Limited Edition Extras

The initial release of Memories Of Murder included a book of black-and-white storyboards annotated in Korean, a set of four postcards, and a slice of film, housed alongside the double-amaray DVD case inside an antique-brown effect cardboard box.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images ... oriesofmurder09.jpg

Conclusion

Funny, gripping and ultimately moving, Memories Of Murder is an exceptional film about the emotional scars left on individuals and society by horrific events. Although those with an insight into South Korea's recent history will no doubt gain even more from the film, no knowledge of Asian history or cinema is required to appreciate the sheer quality of filmmaking and performances on display.

The CJ Entertainment's Korean DVD release features a quality of audio and video that are unlikely to be bettered by another release, along with a generous supply of sadly un-subtitled extras.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=6025

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