Memories of Murder - Korean Film at NWFF June 10, 2005

JUNE 10-15 Fri-Wed at 7, 9:30pm
MEMORIES OF MURDER
(Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2003, 35mm, 129 min.)
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/memories
Based on unsolved crimes committed by South Korea's "Jack the Ripper" in the late 80s, MEMORIES OF MURDER is not your typical serial killer movie. Less about the killings and more about the society in which they occur, this comedic thriller focuses on the malaise of an under-funded, unsophisticated rural police force faced with a series of serial rape and murder during an era of political unrest. Ill-prepared psychologically and technologically to handle the intricacies of the case, local hothead investigator Park Doo-Man, played by famous Korean comic actor Song Kang-ho (J.S.A, FOUL KING), and his unstable lackey partner must share territory with Seoul metropolitan police officer who has been sent to supervise the case. Dramatic tension alternates with comedy that borders on slapstick, as the impulsive, ham-fisted detectives create more problems than they solve and find dead end after dead end in their investigation. In testament to the power of MEMORIES OF MURDER, its release in South Korea caused a public outcry to reopen the cases that inspired the film. In Korean with English subtitles.