Sarin ui chu-eok
South Korea,
2003, 127 min
Shown in 2004
CREDITS
- dir
-
Bong Joon-Ho
- prod
-
Tcha Sung-Jai
- scr
-
Bong Joon-Ho, Shim Sung-Bo
- cam
-
Kim Hyung-Goo
- editor
-
Kim Sun-Min
- mus
-
Taro Iwashiro
- cast
-
Song Kang-Ho, Kim Sang-Kyung
- source
-
WORLD SALES: CJ Entertainment, 11 F, CJ Bldg. 500, 5-Ga Namdaemoon-ro, Jung-ku, 100 082 Seoul, South Korea. FAX: 82-2-726-8291. EMAIL: junelee@cj.net.
-
COMMENTS
Bong Joon-Ho in person.
OTHER
A major success in Korea, Memories of Murder is based on the real spate of unsolved serial murders of young women that took place in a rural village in Gyeong-gi province in 1986. A small team of detectives becomes increasingly frustrated in their efforts to hunt down the mysterious killer, suspecting first the village halfwit, and then later trying to identify a radio show caller who requests the same song each time a killing takes place. As the investigation continues, director Bong builds a picture of a society suspended, and of the relationship between the down-to-earth country cop and his more methodical city counterpart who comes from Seoul to join the team. Already impressive as a policier of the first order, director Bong Joon-Ho takes it further, creating a brittle and oppressive atmosphere where eccentricity is suspect, society is inward looking, the guilty are elusive but the victims are everywhere. In short, he has created an insightful political portrait, powerfully conveying a feeling of living in the repressive environment of Korea at the time. With his commanding sense of story and a tone that is balanced neatly between grim humor and tragic helplessness, Bong emerges as one of Korea’s leading filmmakers.
—Roger Garcia
FACTOID #14
The longest film at the Festival, Sátántangó directed by Béla Tarr, screened in 1995. This Hungarian black comedy clocked in at 435 minutes (just over seven hours).
