Memories of Murder

2003 South Korean murder mystery

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Some bumbling detectives try to catch a rapist/murderer.

All other Bong Joon-ho movies I've seen have a level of complexity, and watching Memories of Murder makes me wonder once again if I'm wrong about Okja. I should probably give that one another spin. I just don't know if I want to see that pig-thing's ass again.

This movie's complexity is something I can't fully appreciate. According to the director and others, this movie about bumbling detectives, heinous crimes, and an unsolved mystery has a lot to do with South Korean society and masculinity. I'm about as close as a human can be to being a male, but I'm not South Korean. So while I can understand how these characters and their interactions deal with masculinity, I don't have the context to understand what this has to do with society in South Korea in the early part of this century.

I really enjoyed the movie, one that has that Joon-ho trademark of effortlessly combining tragedy and comedy. There's a lot of dark humor here as these detectives combine their powers of ineptitude and ineffectiveness to accomplish next to nothing.

Whose memories are these anyway? The serial killer's memories? Could be. The main detective's? Well, yeah, it could be his, too.

I can't get Okja's posterior out of my mind.