Memories of Murder 2003

Non spoiler thoughts (summary): Feels less like a mystery and more like watching people slowly break under pressure. Instead of heroic detectives solving a puzzle, the film shows investigators whose frustration and ego become obstacles to truth. The early sections almost play like dark comedy because of how chaotic and careless the procedures are, but that humor gradually disappears as desperation sets in. What begins as incompetence turns into moral collapse. The case stops being about catching a killer and becomes a portrait of how authority can fail when certainty matters more than evidence. ⚠️ Spoilers ahead. From here on, plot details are discussed. Read on if you’ve seen the film. If not, save this post and come back after. ⚠️ The early crime scene is handled in a continuous long shot that shows how disorganized everything is. It is frustrating to watch because evidence is being contaminated, but at the same time it is oddly funny because of how careless and chaotic the police are. The first half feels slow for me. I start to think this is another story where cops just point at innocent people to close the case. They torture suspects until they say whatever the detectives want to hear, even going as far as creating scripted confessions. Nakakainis si Detective Park. He is so incompetent and negligent. The detectives keep doing flying kicks and getting drunk like they are in some action comedy instead of handling a real serial killer case. Even the most straightforward detective slowly collapses morally under pressure. The longer the case drags on, the more desperate and violent they become. Police brutality becomes part of the narrative, and I start to feel that they are part of the problem. Their ego, bias, and prejudice keep clouding their judgment, and that becomes the very reason they fail to capture the real killer.