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Memories of Murder AKA Salinui chueok
R3 - South Korea - CJ Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (12th September 2006). |
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The Film
 At a recent Film Festival I saw one of the most entertaining monster movies, "The Host" by director Joon-ho Bong, the filmmaker managed to put his own unique stamp on the monster movie genre in what some may call a reinvention. It seems that Bong manages to reinvent each time he helms a project and that's exactly what he managed to do in 2003 with "Memories of Murder" a serial killer film that focuses on the detective tracking the killer. The film is very different from the standard Hollywood fare in the sense that it's not a visually arresting mood piece (at least in the Hollywood sense, this film takes on a very different feel) but instead a character piece. South Korea, the year is 1986, the body of a young woman is found stuffed in a storm drain. She has been raped, strangled and tied up. And a rural cop, Detective Park (Kang-ho Song) is on the case with a special Detective brought in from the city, Detective Seo (Sang-Kyung Kim) to help with the investigation as more girls are found dead. Each of the victims share common attributes, they were all killed on rainy nights, each night a specific song was played on the radio during the time of thr murders, they were all raped and strangled with their underwear and all the girls wore red. The Detectives use all means to find this killer before he strikes again but they are continually out of luck until the search becomes a desperate race that takes them to odds end. Equally frustrating to Detective Park is his clash with the city Detective Seo, while Park beats confession out of local men, Seo digs deeper to find clues as to who the real killer is. The film is based on true events of South Korea's first serial killer case in the country's history, and the filmmakers took an unsparing approach at portraying the incompetence of the police force. It's a harsh criticism on Korean police brutality and the underhanded methods used to get quick convictions to satisfy bureaucratic levels. It's also an in-depth character study, the study of survival especially with Park. As he has to contend with a new city hot shot but also to please his bosses and solve the crime and the limits he'll push in order to see that accomplished, regardless of whether the person convicted actually committed the crime. Bong also paints a clear picture of the tension the town must have felt during that time, his slow build establishing shots create an uneasy feeling with the viewer, considering we know that at some point another girl will end up dead. "Memories of Murder" is an unconventional serial killer film that is a rewarding viewing experience, I was especially surprised at the film's UN-Hollywood ending which may leave some viewers unsatisfied. I however enjoyed the sense of realism and unglamorous approach the film's conclusion took, considering it's true to the actual events.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this anamorphic widscreen transfer is beautiful. The image is sharp, the colors are rendered accurately and skin tones are natural. I found that the blacks were bold and deep and shadow detail was consistent throughout the film. I did notice minor print flaws such as the occasionally bit of dirt but that was very minor indeed. Overall this is a very strong transfer.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included on this release a Korean DTS ES 6.1 matrix soundtrack and a Korean Dolby Digital EX 5.1 surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS ES track. The dialogue was clean and distortion free. The DTS track exhibited great depth with subtle surrounds that place the viewer in the film. Weather effects and directional sounds all felt natural and well placed within the sound space. The music was also mixed with precision. CJ Entertainment has done a magnificent job with this beautiful soundtrack. Optional subtitles are also included in English and Korean. The English subtitles are easy to read and don't disappear off the screen too quickly. I could not spot any major spelling or grammatical errors.
Extras
CJ Entertainment has included a wealth of extras on 2-discs, these include a pair of audio commentaries, a series of featurettes, deleted scenes, theatrical trailers and a TV spot, plus behind-the-scenes footage of events and a photo gallery. Below is a closer look at these supplements per disc. Before we continue please note that these extras do not feature any English subtitles. DISC ONE: Includes a pair of audio commentaries unfortunately they don't include any English subtitles so anyone that does not understand Korean is totally out of luck. If you can understand Korean then I'm sure you're in for quite a treat. The first feature-length audio commentary is by writer/director Joon-ho Bong, cinematographer Hyeong-gyu Kim and production designer Seong-hie Yu. The second feature-length audio commentary is by writer/director Joon-ho Bong and cast members Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung and Park No-shik. DISC TWO: The second disc is where the majority of the extras are housed, considering the first disc has a DTS ES track there wouldn't have been anymore more room for these video extras. The second discs includes a decent amount of supplements for fans however much like the commentaries on the first disc these also do not have any English subtitles. Therefore if you can understand Korean then this Special Edition is certainly a worthwhile purchase. Included on this disc are a 5-part "making-Of" featurettes from what I can understand they seem to be broken up into the various stages of production and feature some interviews with the key cast and crew as well as a fair amount of behind-the-scenes footage shot during production. Next are a collection of 9 "Character" featurettes, the cast talk about their characters and involvement in the film, each segment also includes behind-the-scenes footage and footage from the film. Following that are 2 "On-set" featurettes which start with some interviews and we get a glimpse at shooting parts of the film in these behind-the-scenes segments. Additionally the disc includes 4 "Production design" featurettes that takes us into the look of the film, the locations used and also the set created. These clips also include interviews with the production design team. There are 7 deleted scenes on this disc, these scenes include optional audio commentary by the film's writer/director Joon-ho Bong. The scenes include: - Scene 1: Detective Cho spends time with a prostitute while Detective Park searches for men without pubic hair at a sauna and Detective Seo goes through garbage to find a postcard. This scene runs for 1 minute 41 seconds. - Scene 2: The Chief looks at evidence gathered at a suspects home, he has a private conversation with Detective Park. This scene runs for 4 minutes 29 seconds. - Scene 3: The female cop recording a victim's statement. This scene runs for 35 seconds. - Scene 4: Detective Park checks out whether a key suspect has any pubic hair. This scene runs for 59 seconds. - Scene 5: The key suspect turns the radio on and has a chat with the female cop. This scene runs for 1 minute 44 seconds. - Scene 6: The suspect is released and exits the police station. This scene runs for 56 seconds. - Scene 7: Detective park cleans out his desk and says goodbye to Detective Seo, who stares out into the empty interrogation room. The scene cuts to a wide shot of an open field as someone walks across it. This scene runs for 3 minutes 41 seconds. Up next are a collection of theatrical trailers the first runs for 2 minutes 34 seconds while the second one runs for 1 minute 55 seconds. Also included in a single TV spot which runs for a standard 30 seconds. Footage from a publicity photo shoot is next and runs for 5 minutes 30 seconds. Here we see the cast and crew getting their photos taken, with some interview segments. Next is some footage from the press screening which runs for 5 minutes 54 seconds, the cast and director talk about the film before screening it for the press, afterwards we get some additional footage of the cast. The disc includes a montage of on-location footage with the DVD credits rolling over it. Rounding out the extras are 4 photo galleries. The first includes 31 images taken from the set, the second includes 8 black and white photos, the third includes 30 character photos and the final gallery includes 1 image of a concept art of a set.
Overall
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