2003 Bong's Memories of murder, of course, which starts my interest in watching Korean cinema after Oldboy. Recently watched Snowpiercer which is stunning more than any Hollywood films. Memories of murder contain a lot of matter in it. The genre is more promising to watch the film. Most of the writers deal with the theme in terms of character, they bind theme and concepts within their dialogues and character's expressions to reflect the main symbolism of the film. Surely it is not an easy job to do. For instance, let us takes Oldboy, all characters are bind with incest and love, it is a theme but the plot is previously built by the revenge. Majorly it is very rare to see the film, whose theme is constructed within the plot and not within the characters. Memories of Murder is one of it.
"It is not about the killer but the suspect still matters and the nature of impression".
The film's central concept asking many skeptical questions such as "Who is killer?'. But in terms of discussing it, let us see "Who is suspect?". As per the dictionary,"Having an idea or idea of impressions of the existence, presence or truth of(something) without any certain proof". The film deals with these above words. And those or ideas and proofs. Let us see the ideas and proofs of our major characters. And at the final, we are going to know how they failed in front of the theme.
First, detective Park Doo-man whose idea is "Seeing raw witnesses" yes, of course, he believes what he sees, and what he believes. He believes that boy (Kwang-ho) is the killer by seeing the footprints and his monologues. Another example is his propose about the hairless men because he didn't seen any hairs of the murder. Shortly he sees collective ideas and proofs even it didn't make any sense or not. The character arc is brilliantly done by writing the other detective character Seo-Tae-Yoon. Whose idea depends on collective documentation. He believes documents and his instincts. He often says "Documents never lie".He believes the collective idea of information more than witnesses.
If we dig deep the theme, it describes the nature of witnesses and impressions. And it shows the dynamic nature of suspect. From the above quotations about the suspect, the last words are "Without any certain proof". Of course the film itself, there are only suspects no any killers. In real world or in other films you may find real killer but this film is not about the killer it is about the suspects. That is why the killer is unknown in the movie.
Before the ending, we see both detectives are failures from their ideas. Documents are fooled Seo and "seeing raw witnesses", the eye contact of Park Doo-man also didn't help him. Which means suspects are always dynamic. And there are no static impressions on the killer. And like early cases in the film, that final suspect also moved from the inspection. Like I said the characters are failed, from their impressions. But what about the final moment? let me explain.
The film is melodic and more than any mystery and crime genre. Again the film's theme is constructed by plot, not from the characters. The theme should always win at the final. That is why the ending makes more sense. We see characters are failed, but the theme alone stands. In last frames that school girl said"Just a kind of plain". Yes of course, as per the theme the suspect is always without any certain proof and he is dynamic. Eventually, Bong staged thematic succession at the ending by failing the characters.
"It is not about the killer but the suspect still matters and the nature of impression".
The film's central concept asking many skeptical questions such as "Who is killer?'. But in terms of discussing it, let us see "Who is suspect?". As per the dictionary,"Having an idea or idea of impressions of the existence, presence or truth of(something) without any certain proof". The film deals with these above words. And those or ideas and proofs. Let us see the ideas and proofs of our major characters. And at the final, we are going to know how they failed in front of the theme.
First, detective Park Doo-man whose idea is "Seeing raw witnesses" yes, of course, he believes what he sees, and what he believes. He believes that boy (Kwang-ho) is the killer by seeing the footprints and his monologues. Another example is his propose about the hairless men because he didn't seen any hairs of the murder. Shortly he sees collective ideas and proofs even it didn't make any sense or not. The character arc is brilliantly done by writing the other detective character Seo-Tae-Yoon. Whose idea depends on collective documentation. He believes documents and his instincts. He often says "Documents never lie".He believes the collective idea of information more than witnesses.
If we dig deep the theme, it describes the nature of witnesses and impressions. And it shows the dynamic nature of suspect. From the above quotations about the suspect, the last words are "Without any certain proof". Of course the film itself, there are only suspects no any killers. In real world or in other films you may find real killer but this film is not about the killer it is about the suspects. That is why the killer is unknown in the movie.
Before the ending, we see both detectives are failures from their ideas. Documents are fooled Seo and "seeing raw witnesses", the eye contact of Park Doo-man also didn't help him. Which means suspects are always dynamic. And there are no static impressions on the killer. And like early cases in the film, that final suspect also moved from the inspection. Like I said the characters are failed, from their impressions. But what about the final moment? let me explain.
The film is melodic and more than any mystery and crime genre. Again the film's theme is constructed by plot, not from the characters. The theme should always win at the final. That is why the ending makes more sense. We see characters are failed, but the theme alone stands. In last frames that school girl said"Just a kind of plain". Yes of course, as per the theme the suspect is always without any certain proof and he is dynamic. Eventually, Bong staged thematic succession at the ending by failing the characters.
