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Memories of Murder (2003)
"Salinui chueok" (original title)

Unrated  |   |  Crime, Drama, Mystery  |  2 May 2003 (South Korea)
8.1
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Ratings: 8.1/10 from 56,803 users   Metascore: 82/100
Reviews: 126 user | 143 critic | 11 from Metacritic.com

In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, raped and tied and gagged with her underwear. Detective Park Doo-Man and Detective Cho... See full summary »

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Cast

Credited cast:
...
Detective Doo-man Park
...
Detective Tae-yoon Seo
Roe-ha Kim ...
Detective Yong-koo Cho
Jae-ho Song ...
Sergeant Dong-chul Shin
Hie-bong Byeon ...
Sergeant Hee-bong Koo
Seo-hie Ko ...
Officer Kwi-ok Kwon
No-shik Park ...
Kwang-ho Baek
...
Hyeon-gyu Park
Jong-ryol Choi ...
Du-man's father
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
...
Seol-yung Kwok
In-seon Jeong
Ha-kyeong Kim
Jae-eung Lee
Young-hwa Seo
Ji-ru Sung
Edit

Storyline

In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, raped and tied and gagged with her underwear. Detective Park Doo-Man and Detective Cho Yong-koo, two brutal and stupid local detectives without any technique, investigate the murder using brutality and torturing the suspects, without any practical result. The Detective Seo Tae-Yoon from Seoul comes to the country to help the investigations and is convinced that a serial-killer is killing the women. When a third woman is found dead in the same "modus-operandi", the detectives find leads of the assassin. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis


Certificate:

Unrated | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

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Language:

|

Release Date:

2 May 2003 (South Korea)  »

Also Known As:

Memories of Murder  »

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$46,380 (Hong Kong) (5 March 2004)

Gross:

$14,131 (USA) (29 July 2005)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (Filmfest Hamburg)

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the film being based on a series of real murders in the Korean provincial town of Hwaeseong during the 1980s, Joon-ho Bong also drew a lot inspiration from a play called 'Come See Me' which dramatized the incidents, to the extent that he stated in an interview: "If it weren't for KIM Gwang-rim's play [Come See Me], I would have had a lot of problems establishing the structure." While he also gained the idea for the depiction of the era from the graphic novel 'From Hell' by the writer Alan Moore, which was given to Bong by the journalist Tony Rayns as a gift. See more »

Goofs

When Detective Seo Tae-Yoon's gun is tossed away from his hands by Park Hyeon-gyu, the gun is seen landing to the left of the train tracks from the camera's point of view. Moments later, when the detective returns to pick it up, the gun is seen lying on the train tracks itself. See more »

Quotes

Detective Park Doo-Man: Fuck, I don't know.
See more »

Connections

References Body Heat (1981) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Jarringly disturbing and haunting film
21 February 2004 | by (Singapore) – See all my reviews

I have long since heard of the excellence of this korean movie on koreanfilm.org, but it was only after reading the review in detail and realizing that the score was written by Taro Ishiwaro ( a well known Japanese musician who also wrote scores for Shohei Imamura and Japanese TV serials, including The Inanimate World ), and that the DOP was Kim Hyung-gu (who also shot Musa, One Fine Spring Day and Chen Kaige's Together) that it stumped on me I was indeed missing a masterpiece.

And a masterpiece it is, one deeply haunting and disturbing asian crime thriller. The mood invoked during the last few minutes of the film is something you would probably never forget.

Watch this film not only for its cinematic brilliance, but also because of the mezmerising score written by Taro Ishiwaro, track no 29 on the OST the favourite on my list.


46 of 60 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

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