


Several of the moment’s stated intentions have been negated in some way.
#Memories of murder true story movie#
Now that we know a man named Lee Choon-jae confessed to all nine of the killings depicted in Bong’s movie (in addition to six others) in 2019, the dying seconds of “Memories of Murder” can’t help but hit different. Unsupported by a futile national police force that devoted the majority of its manpower to suppressing the student rebellion that had risen up against Chun Doo-hwan’s oppressive regime, and kept in the dark (sometimes literally) because of despotic policies on both sides of the 38th Parallel, the kick-happy Keystone Kops driving the film’s tragicomic investigation naturally crash into a dead end.
#Memories of murder true story serial#
This question only applies to so many films, but none have asked it more directly - or answered it with more force - than Bong Joon Ho’s “ Memories of Murder.” A loose but historically redolent evocation of the serial killings that plagued the rural South Korean city of Hwaseong between 19, Bong’s 2003 masterpiece defrosted his country’s most notorious cold case by looking back at it as a damning microcosm of life during autocracy, and as a symptom of the powerlessness that can seep into the general population of any country whose government only cares about preserving its own tenuous control of them. Would an uncannily effective studio thriller like “The Mothman Prophecies” still be eerie enough to punch above its weight class if the Mothman turned out to be a bored accountant named Gary whose prank calls got a little out of hand? Probably not. Every film inspired by a real unsolved crime leaves behind the same lingering question: Would any of then retain their full power if their respective real-world crimes were eventually solved? Would “Zodiac” still be such a haunting police sketch of pathological obsession in a world where viewers could Google the killer’s identity in less time than it takes Robert Graysmith to crack even the easiest cypher? Probably.
