Memories of Murder (Salinui Chueok )

Boon Jong Ho belongs with the most impressive contemporary film auteurs, largely thanks to the Academy Award winning Parasite (2019). The attention of global reviewers and audiences was however captured sooner, with his second film Memories of Murder. Though the film is based on the true story of an elusive serial killer from the city of Hwasong, it is certainly not a classic procedural. Boon Jong Ho’s personal style is marked by unexpected mixing of genres and elaborate subversion of the audience’s expectations. Memories of Murder uses stylistic and narrative devices of neo-noir to develop a story about a collapsing state apparatus and the quiet presence of evasive evil. The film organically goes from a chilling detective story to social satire with uplifting moments of absurd humor. The result is a mosaic in which we can witness the birth of the, today already iconic, director’s style and also his experimenting with how many genre levels can noir truly bear. (Dan Krátký)