Memories of Murder (2003) on Netflix
NR20032h 12mCrimeDramaMysteryThriller
October 1986: two women are discovered raped and murdered near a small South Korean town. Local detective Park Doo-man and Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon pursue the killer with clashing methods.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb8.1/10275,296 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes95%
Trailer
Plot summary
A small town in South Korea, October 1986. The bodies of two women are found in a ditch by a field on the outskirts, both raped and murdered, and the police there have never handled anything like it: evidence is gathered improperly, forensic technology is almost nonexistent, and suspects are beaten. Detective Park Doo-man insists he can spot a guilty man by looking him in the eye. Detective Seo Tae-yoon comes from Seoul to assist, and the two clash over how the case should be worked. The reports they study show the killer strikes on rainy nights and targets women wearing red. Officer Kwon Kwi-ok finds that a local radio station was asked to play the same song on each of those nights.
Cast
- No-shik Parkas Baek Gwang-ho
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Memories of Murder (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
The real Hwaseong killings the film is based on were pinned on a suspect only in 2019, when DNA from one victim's underwear was matched to Lee Choon-jae, then serving life in Busan for the rape and murder of his sister-in-law; he confessed to 14 killings, including all 10 serial murders.- At the time of the film's release the real killer had not been caught, and with the statute of limitations approaching South Korea's Uri Party sought to amend the law to give prosecutors more time to find him; the limit was reached in 2006 for the last-known victim.
- The commercial success of Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder is credited with saving one of its production companies, Sidus Pictures, from bankruptcy.
- Bong Joon Ho said that while shooting the film the production avoided Hwaseong, the location of the real murders, and filmed carefully because the families of the real victims were still alive.
- Japanese composers including Joe Hisaishi were approached before Taro Iwashiro was chosen for the score; Bong Joon Ho and Iwashiro then held two 10-hour meetings, and more than 20 demo tapes were sent to Bong.
- In the real case, DNA evidence after the ninth murder was sent to Japan for analysis, not to America as in the film, and the results did not match any suspects.
