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Memories of Murder (2003)
Memories of Murder is a 2003 South Korean neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Bong Joon Ho, from a screenplay by Bong and Shim Sung-bo, and based on the 1996 play Come to See Me by Kim Kwang-lim. It stars Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung. In the film, detectives Park Doo-man (Song) and Seo Tae-yoon (Kim) lead an investigation into a string of rapes and murders taking place in Hwaseong in the late 1980s, by a…
Directed by Bong Joon-ho · Shot by Kim Hyung-koo · Cut by Kim Seon-min · Music by Taro Iwashiro · 132 min
How it was made
- Bong avoided filming at the actual crime scene in Hwaseong out of sensitivity to the still-living families of the real victims, shooting instead in Jangseong and Haenam counties, with the tunnel scenes filmed at Jukbong tunnel in Jinju.
- The film's investigative framework built around FM radio broadcasts was borrowed from the play Come to See Me, and the script was written from real case reports and personal interviews with a detective who worked the actual investigation.
- After considering well-known Japanese composers such as Joe Hisaishi, Bong chose Taro Iwashiro, who exchanged ideas with him across two 10-hour meetings in Japan and South Korea and sent over 20 demo tapes before settling on a score built from "almost connected, yet almost disconnected rhythms" to mirror the film's gaps in evidence.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Bong Joon-ho
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