memories of murder

This 2003 Korean movie is one of the finest movies I've watched.

The ending of a movie is important, so is the plot itself. Movie is about experience, and Memories of murder exceeds in creating a detective story.

Unlike a some other Korean movies, this one is not too elaborate or exaggerate. Nothing fancy, it is just a solid piece of film making, storytelling. The subject of detectives finding a serial killer has been tried thousands of times, the fine screenplay brings us so close to the eye of a hurricane, yet never try to run us down like a low-budget Hollywood suspense feature.

The result is a atmospheric, suspenseful drama with serious acting. It's highly entertaining and interesting, and I do care about the characters. Formula lovers and smart cookies who are ambitious to think faster than the screenwriter may be disappointed - this is not that kind of film.

I watched this movie on VCD a few years back. Finally got the region 1 DVD this week. The disc had a 5.1 English dub and Korean 2.0 track. I couldn't understand the Korean language, but the dubbed version lacked the raw emotions emitted by the actors - which was one of the quality of this movie. I wish next time they will have a 5.1 original language track on the disc.