Memories of Murder

Original title: Salinui chueok

2003
15
2h 11m

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

237K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

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Dark Comedy Korean Drama Police Procedural Serial Killer True Crime Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

237K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

206

218

See production info at IMDbPro

Top rated movie #194

Awards
- 33 wins & 10 nominations total

Baek Gwang-ho
(as Park No-sik)

Park Hae-il

Park Hyeon-gyu

Jeon Mi-seon

Kwok Seol-yung

Seo Young-hwa

Eon Deok-nyeo
(as Young-hwa Seo)

Woo Go-na

Kim So-hyeon

Ok-joo Lee

Oh Nam-joo

Choi Jong-ryul

Gwang-ho's father

Yoo Seung-mok

Journalist

Hun-Kyung Lee

Park Yeong-ja

Shin Hyun-jong

Autopsy doctor

Lee Jae-eung

Boy in Opening Scene
(as Jae-eung Lee)

Director
- Bong Joon Ho
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Beginning in June 2000, it took Bong Joon Ho a year to write the script for Memories of Murder (2003), yet he has stated that: "For the first six months, I didn't write a line of the script. I just did research."

Goofs
In the letter received from the FBI written in English, there are four spelling mistakes - 'examnation' instead of 'examination', 'insrumental' instead of 'instrumental', 'dateed' instead of 'dated' and 'Octorber' instead of 'October'.

Quotes
[last lines]
Detective Park Doo-Man: Did you see his face?
[Girl Nods]
Detective Park Doo-Man: What did he look like?
Schoolgirl: Well... kind of plain.
Detective Park Doo-Man: In what way?
Schoolgirl: Just... ordinary

Alternate versions
The British DVD by Optimum Releasing has 5 minutes cut omitting the whole part of the film between the release of the last suspect and Detective Seo Tae-Yoon shadowing him. Therefore important scenes for the development of the story are missing, such as when the detectives are informed about the possibility of a DNA analysis of sperm found on one of the victim's clothes and that the sample has to be sent abroad because the required equipment is not in Korea. Also missing is the sequence where Detective Cho Yong-koo loses his leg and a scene with Kwok Seol-yung asking Detective Park Doo-Man to quit the police.

Connections
Featured in Anasuya (2007)

User reviews465

Featured review

9/10

Jarringly disturbing and haunting film

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.