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Memories of Murder (2003)

Film
DirectorBong Joon Ho
Meta takes1

Figures

Locations
  • The recurring civil defense drills that plunge the town into darkness and halt the investigation. The State of Exception
Form & technique
  • The recurring motif of the rural landscape (rice paddies, fields, irrigation ditches) as a crime scene.
  • The final shot: Detective Park Doo-man turns and stares directly into the camera.
  • The tonal shifts between slapstick comedy and brutal violence, e.g., the crime scene reenactment.
Tropes
  • The absent face of the killer.
  • The detectives' reliance on brutal torture and fabricated confessions.
  • The contrast between Detective Park's shamanistic intuition and Detective Seo's faith in American forensic science.

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