---
title: "Memories of Murder"
year: 2003
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder"
fi1m_id: "memories-of-murder"
imdb_id: "tt0353969"
tmdb_id: 11423
wikidata_id: "Q488169"
fi1m_score: 91
critics_score: 79
critics_reviews: 15
published: "2026-09-18"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:56.456074+00:00"
region: "LT"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Memories of Murder (2003)

Directed by Bong Joon Ho · 2h 11m · Crime, Drama, Thriller

## Identity

Memories of Murder

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** memories-of-murder
- **IMDb ID:** tt0353969
- **TMDB ID:** 11423
- **Wikidata ID:** Q488169
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11423, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q488169

**Fi1m score: 91** · Critics 79 from 15 reviews

*In a sentence:* The evidence is under a tractor, the suspect is whoever looked at them funny, and it is raining again

> Bong Joon Ho’s second feature is a police procedural about police who cannot do the procedure, and it is one of the best films of its kind we know. Funny, then not funny, then something else; the long middle stretch is the only place it drags.

## Synopsis

A farming town in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, autumn 1986. A woman’s body is found in a concrete drainage ditch beside a rice field, and the local police have never dealt with anything like it. Detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho) believes he can tell a guilty man by looking him in the eye; Detective Cho Yong-koo (Kim Roe-ha) prefers a flying kick to a question. Detective Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung) arrives from Seoul with a notebook and a belief in paperwork, and is mistaken for a suspect within minutes. Children, a tractor and reporters trample the crime scene before anyone ropes it off. The first man dragged in is Baek Kwang-ho (Park No-sik), a slow local boy Park has a feeling about. Then a second body is found.

## Review

Bong Joon Ho made this in 2003, before [*Parasite*](https://film.one/film/parasite) made him famous in Britain, and it is built on a real case, a run of murders south of Seoul in the late 1980s, unsolved when the film was written. Bong and his co-writer Shim Sung-bo do not solve it either. They spend 131 minutes with the men who tried, and the result is a police film in which almost nothing the police do is any use. We would tell a stranger to see it, and we do not say that often.

The joke, and it is a joke for about forty minutes, is that these detectives are terrible at their job. Song Kang-ho’s Park Doo-man is a country policeman who thinks he has a gift: he stares at a suspect and knows. Kim Sang-kyung’s Seo Tae-yoon comes from Seoul in a long coat and wants documents, timings, a map. Kim Yu-seon puts Park in a leather jacket that has seen rain and Seo in one that has not yet. Song plays Park with a slow, satisfied face, a man who is nearly always wrong and nearly never doubtful, and it is a great comic performance right up to the point where it stops being one.

Kim Hyung-koo shoots the countryside in flat grey daylight, wide, with fields to the horizon and a body somewhere in them. At night it rains, and the only light is torches and a squad car, so the woods become small bright circles with black between them. Ryu Seong-hie’s police station has an interrogation room in the basement with a boiler, a pipe and a bulb, and it looks like a place where nobody would hear you. Taro Iwashiro’s score is a single mournful string theme used sparingly; it appears, does its work, and leaves.

Here is what got at us. Kim Roe-ha’s Cho, the partner, greets suspects with a running drop-kick, and the first time he does it we laughed, because Bong stages it like slapstick. The man he is kicking is Baek Kwang-ho, whom Park No-sik plays as a frightened child in a grown body, and by the second kick we felt sick, and a little ashamed of the first laugh. The brutality is funny because it is stupid, and then it is not funny because it is happening to someone.

Bong keeps widening the frame. This is South Korea under a military government, and the film notices it in passing: the town goes dark for civil-defence drills, riot police are unavailable because they have been sent to beat up students, and a forensic sample has to go abroad because nobody at home can read it. Kim Seon-min’s editing lets these details sit inside ordinary scenes rather than flagging them. Byun Hee-bong and Song Jae-ho, as the sergeants running the station, are exactly the kind of tired men who let this happen.

It is not flawless. The middle hour brings in one suspect after another, and the shape repeats: a lead, an interrogation, a collapse, more rain. Go Seo-hee’s Officer Kwon Kwi-ok is the only person in the building who does real detective work, and the script gives her a fraction of the time it gives the men who do not. Park Hae-il, as a factory worker who comes into view late in the first half, is good in a part we cannot say much about.

Most critics admire it, and one dissenting review calls it too obedient to the serial-killer thriller. We think that misses the point. Bong uses the conventions, the montage of clues, the suspect in the chair, so that we can watch each one fail. Song Kang-ho’s staring method is what the genre has always told us works, and here it does not. The second half goes somewhere we will not describe, except to say that the real case was resolved years after the film was made, and that this changes nothing about how it plays.

The 15 certificate is fair: the violence is mostly to suspects, not victims, and that is deliberate. Watch it with someone who will laugh at the drop-kick, and then watch them stop.

*Fi1m score 91, published 18 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Memories of Murder worth watching?**

*Memories of Murder* is worth watching for anyone who can take a crime film in which the police fail at almost everything, and we scored it 91, which means we would tell a stranger to see it. It starts as comedy about incompetent detectives and turns into something much bleaker. The middle hour repeats itself, but that is the only place it drags.

**How long is Memories of Murder, and what is it rated?**

*Memories of Murder* runs 2h 11m. It is a crime and drama film.

**Where can I watch Memories of Murder in Lithuania?**

*Memories of Murder* is not on any streaming or rental service in Lithuania at the moment. It is available in 8 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Memories of Murder, and is it suitable for children?**

*Memories of Murder* carries a UK 15 certificate, and we think that is fair: it is about a series of murders, but the violence on screen is mostly the police beating suspects, including a frightened, slow local boy, and it is meant to make you uncomfortable. It is not for children. Teenagers who can handle a grim, adult crime drama with brutality and dread will be fine.

**How does Memories of Murder compare to Zodiac?**

*Memories of Murder* and [*Zodiac*](https://film.one/film/zodiac) are both about real unsolved cases and both watch investigators drown in leads that go nowhere, but Bong's film is funnier, angrier and shorter, and its violence comes from the police rather than the killer. Fincher's is colder and more patient, built on paperwork and repetition. We rate Bong's the higher of the two; *Zodiac* suits those who want the slow procedural itself.

**What should I watch after Memories of Murder?**

After *Memories of Murder*, try [*Zodiac*](https://film.one/film/zodiac) (2007, Fi1m 91): Fincher’s account of another unsolved case, colder, longer and just as haunted by paperwork. Then [*Cure*](https://film.one/film/cure) (1997, Fi1m 85): Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s detective story in which the investigation infects the investigator.

### Reviews we read (15)

- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a brilliant investigative procedural and one of Bong’s finest, still regarded as a masterpiece comparable to Zodiac for its handling of a grim true-crime saga. It highlights Bong’s singular command of tension, technique, and gallows humor, recommending it for a retrospective screening. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-10-30/critics-choice-memories-of-murder-bong-joon-ho)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Seongyong Cho (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Bong Joon-ho’s film as a superb country thriller that uses its serial-killer investigation to expose the injustices and brutality of 1980s South Korean society under military dictatorship. It singles out the vivid recreation of the era, the dynamic performances (especially Song Kang-ho), and the mix of black humor, tension, and social critique. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/a-south-korean-zodiac)
- **Screen Daily** (90/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as one of the most complete and compelling to emerge from South Korea in recent years, a detective thriller that is mysterious, dramatic, creepy and corroding with a chilling twist. It praises the even-handed direction, character development, assemblage of clues and atmosphere while noting its strong domestic box office. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/features/memories-of-murder-salinui-chueok/4014450.article)
- **Time Out**, TR (90/100, inferred): The review calls the film a huge critical and commercial success that fictionalises the hunt for Korea's first recorded serial killer. It singles out the plentiful gallows humour from clashes between local and urban detectives, Bong's brilliant multi-perspective direction, and tremendous performances amid the repressive 1980s context. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/memories-of-murder)
- **Empire**, John Nugent (85/100, inferred): The critic views the re-release as a chance to appreciate the film's remarkable measure and control as an early sign of Bong's mastery, with compelling thrills, visual prowess and dark comedy. It singles out the gravity given to each murder scene amid the farcical police ineptitude. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/memories-murder-review/)
- **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (85/100, inferred): The piece argues that the real-world resolution of the case makes the film even more haunting and effective. It singles out the ending and the film’s blend of dark comedy with philosophical ambiguity about justice. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/memories-of-murder-ending-solved-bong-joon-ho-criterion-1234631471/)
- **Evening Standard**, Derek Malcolm (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Bong Joon-ho for making a film that makes you laugh and shiver at once, highlighting its capacity to surprise through irony and absurdity rather than anger. It singles out the finely-pointed acting and the film's lasting impact as a portrait of a society struggling with horror. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/surprising-serial-killer-7381796.html)
- **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (80/100, inferred): The review praises the film as a gripping yet eccentric police procedural that skillfully juggles tones while indicting the incompetence and moral failures of the police. It singles out the haunting lack of closure and the way the story casts aspersions on detective intuition. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/parasite-director-bong-joon-ho-broke-out-with-an-acab-t-1846148597)
- **The Independent**, J. Romney (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a muddled, sordid procedural thriller that emphasises the unfathomability of the crimes and the incompetence of the police. It singles out the masterly closing touch that leaves a big question mark and enduring unease instead of conventional satisfaction. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/memories-of-murder-15-5356323.html)
- **Sight and Sound**, David Jays (70/100, inferred): The critic praises Bong Joon-ho's film for moving beyond the failed police investigation to depict fractures in Korean civil society during the 1980s. It highlights the blend of incongruous comedy and a sombre forensic examination of institutional failure, along with strong performances and atmospheric detail. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/799)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the darkly comic 2003 thriller as a fine accomplishment that subverts the serial-killer procedural through its depiction of inept, brutal and out-of-depth detectives whose chaotic methods compromise evidence. It highlights how the film satirises official laxity and arrogance while noting its real-world impact in helping identify the actual killer years later. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/11/memories-of-murder-review-bong-joon-ho-breakthrough-serial-killer)
- **The Times** (70/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a classic police thriller by the Parasite director, based on a real-life serial killer case, and notes that it won fans including Quentin Tarantino. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/memories-of-murder-2003-review-992mnqkxd)
- **Slant Magazine** (1): The critic finds the film too beholden to serial-killer thriller conventions and lacking urgency or dread despite its Korean setting and occasional humor. They single out the ambiguous ending as a point of interest but wish the movie had strayed further from genre tropes. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/memories-of-murder/)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A): The critic praises Bong Joon-ho for exploring how justice is an illusion and attempts to impose order create chaos. He singles out the impeccable craftsmanship and the way the film garners sympathy for flawed characters without exploiting the crimes. [Read](https://collider.com/memories-of-murder-review-bong-joon-ho/)
- **The Playlist**, Roxana Hadadi (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film Bong Joon-ho's exceptional crime drama and one of the best of its genre. She singles out its exploration of the shades of gray in human experience, the murky morality shared by accusers and accused, and how violence festers and spreads, infecting minds and perverting patterns. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/memories-of-murder-re-release-review-20201023/)

## Details

- **Director:** Bong Joon Ho
- **Director:** Bong Joon Ho
- **Writer:** Bong Joon Ho, Shim Sung-bo
- **Cinematography:** Kim Hyung-koo
- **Editor:** Kim Seon-min
- **Music:** Taro Iwashiro
- **Production design:** Ryu Seong-hie
- **Costume design:** Kim Yu-seon
- **Producer:** Cha Seung-jae, Kim Moo-ryoung, Noh Jong-yun
- **Cast:** Song Kang-ho as Detective Park Doo-man; Kim Sang-kyung as Detective Seo Tae-yoon; Kim Roe-ha as Detective Cho Yong-koo; Song Jae-ho as Sergeant Shin Dong-chul; Byun Hee-bong as Sergeant Koo Hee-bong; Go Seo-hee as Officer Kwon Kwi-ok; Ryu Tae-ho as Jo Byung-soon; Park No-sik as Baek Kwang-ho
- **Runtime:** 2h 11m
- **First release (South Korea):** 25 April 2003
- **Genres:** Crime, Drama, Thriller
- **Budget:** $3 million
- **Box office:** $26 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n_HQwQU8ls

## Where to watch in Lithuania

Not streaming, renting or buying in Lithuania at the last check.

Also available in: AU, ES, GB, IE, JP, KR, PT, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Zodiac* (2007), Fi1m 91: Fincher’s account of another unsolved case, colder, longer and just as haunted by paperwork — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/zodiac.md)
- *Cure* (1997), Fi1m 85: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s detective story in which the investigation infects the investigator — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/cure.md)
- *The Chaser* (2008): Seoul at night, a former policeman, and an institution that will not listen to him
- *Mother* (2009): Bong again, with a small-town killing and a woman who refuses the official answer
- *Insomnia* (1997): The Norwegian original: a detective who cannot sleep and begins to make things worse

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder