MEMORIES OF MURDER

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres for a Limited Engagement from Oscar winning writer/director Bong Joon Ho and Neon is the true story of a serial killer with MEMORIES OF MURDER.

Detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho) is called to a field where a young woman is found murdered. Upset that the forensic team does a horrible job, it will be hard to find the killer. Then another woman is found, and he decides to question the handicapped Baek Kwang-ho (Park No-shik). The only way to get an answer is to have his partner Cho (Kim Roi-ha) use his special horrible techniques to get the answers they want.

Enter from Seoul is Detective Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung) who volunteers to come and help solve the crimes. Almost immediately he realizes that there is another victim out there. Telling Sgt. Koo Hee-bong (Hee-Bong Byun) his thoughts, they begin their search and find exactly what Seo expected. Looking for clues, Officer Kwon Kwi-ok (Go Seo-hee) tells them about a theory she has regarding a song played on the radio. Going from one suspect to another, nothing is adding up.

Until the next victim sends the crew over the edge in panic. They are led to Park Hyeon-gyu (Park Hae-il) who works at the local factory near the field. Getting no where with him, they have no choice but to let him go. Park and Seo talk out what they can do next until they realize that perhaps there is a witness they had not considered. As the night goes on, one more girl has been murdered and Seo blames himself deciding that maybe its time he take the law into his own hands.

When all the leads take them nowhere, the crime remains unsolved as year later, Park returns to the scene.

Kang-ho as Detective Park is a man who prides himself on being able to look in the eyes of a person and tell whether they are lying or not. The problem is in this case, he seems to be losing his touch which means he relies on other methods that are not law enforcement approved. His problem with Seo turns out to be based on hating an outsider coming in but must put that aside if they are going to catch a killer.

Sang-kyung as Seo comes in and watches the detective around him while he digs deeper into the reports of what has been happening. Putting the pieces together, he becomes obsessed with one suspect to the point of losing that part of himself that set him apart from the others. Not getting along with Detective Park only lasts until they put their theories together and go forward.

Roi-ha as Cho is the kind of cop that everybody hates and gives good cops a bad name. His temper is ridiculously out of control, but he always relied on Park to keep him in check. With the arrival of Seo, a change takes place in the squad room. Byun as Sgt. Hee-bong has had almost enough with Park and Cho’s ridiculous tactics and turns to Seo who seems to take things more seriously.

Seo-hee as Officer Kwon Kwi-ok is a young woman who is taking in everything around her. Once she finds a clue on her own, she is hesitant to share until realizing she must help find the killer. No-shik as Baek is a mentally disabled young man who is treated poorly by the police to get what they wanted when all they really needed to do what just talk to him as a friend.

Other cast include Song Jae-ho as Sgt. Shin Dong-chul, Jeon Mi-seon as Kwok Seol-yung and Yeom Hye-ran as So-hyeon’s mother, Tae-ho Ryu as Jo Byeong-soon, Woo Go-na as Kim So-hyeon, Ok-joo Lee as Oh Nam-joo, Jong-ryol Choi as Gwang-ho’s father.

Neon is a film production company that is best known for such films as I, TONYA and one of the most incredible Oscar winning film PARASITE. With a total of 12 Academy Award nominations, Neon appeals to audiences that are looking for in-your-face storytelling. For more information please visit www.neonrated.com.

Talking about the style of MEMORIES OF MURDER, the writer/director says “First of all, I thought of the victims’ families. I asked myself many times whether or not I had the right to make this movie. Writing the screenplay was so difficult that I even resorted to knocking back some stiff drinks sometimes.”

Continuing, “I struggled over how I could remain responsible to the victims’ families. In most thrillers, death is merely a game or a puzzle, but in MEMORIES OF MURDER, death is accompanied by sadness and anger. This movie will make you feel how profoundly terrible and tragic murders are. I am genuinely saddened by the deaths of these women. Not only do I feel rage toward the murderer, but I am also enraged about the circumstanced that allowed these women to be killed. I hope the audiences who watch the film will feel as I do.”

MEMORIES OF MURDER is the true story of a serial murder cast in South Korea during the 80’s. Compared to the Zodiac murders in California, this film takes us on a journey of how the police mishandled the case and by the time they managed to put the pieces together, the murders stopped – or did they.

The film takes its time in the telling but then again writer/director Bong Joon Ho is not in a hurry. Its almost as if he wants to make sure we understand every little bit of the evidence and not get distracted with the shenanigans going on around the case. As a mother and grandmother, let me tell you I absolutely looked past that and focused on what was being discovered minute by minute.

The cast is exceptional and brings MEMORIES OF MURDER to audiences that might not have known the history of this serial killer in South Korea.

In the end – for two detectives everything is new!

Best Foreign Film PARASITE Comes to Bluray

Jeri Jacquin

 

On Bluray this week from director writer/director Bong Joon Ho and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment comes a daring film when dealing with a PARASITE.

 

Let's introduce the Kim family - Ki-taek (Kang-ho Song) is married to Chung-sook (Hye-jin Jang) and they share a very downtrodden lower, lower level apartment with there son Ki-woo (Woo-sik Choi) and daughter Ki-jung (So-dam Park). The interesting thing about this family is that as each day passes it becomes painfully obvious that jobs are as scarce as a wifi signal.

 

When Ki-woo's friend leaves to study abroad, he suggests talking over a job tutoring a young girl. The family is very nice but even better is the pay. Knowing he doesn't qualify to tutor anyone, sister Ki-jung comes to the rescue with her unique abilities.

 

At the doorstep of Park home is Yeon-kyo (Yeo-jeong Jo), she welcomes Ki-woo into their home and introduces daughter Da-hye (Ji-so Jung). Yeon-kyo watches their first lesson and is so impressed with Ki-woo that he's hired immediately. He also meets Yeon-kyo's youngest son Da-song (Hyun-jun Jung) and learns she believes he has artistic promise.

 

Ki-woo sees he is a bit of a handful and tells Mrs. Park that there is an art therapist he knows that can help with Da-song. Enter sister Ki-jung who is now Jessica, an art therapist who, after speaking with Mrs. Park about her son, is hired immediately. All of this is fine with husband Dong-ik (Sun-kyun Lee).

 

So much so that he offers to let his driver take 'Jessica' home and, you guessed it, a plan is hatched for dad Ki-taek to get that job, followed by mom Chung-sook to get the housekeeping job away from long time employee Moon-gwang (Jeong-eun Lee). As the Park household takes a new shape, Yeon-kyo seems thrilled with how well things are going under her roof, except she doesn't know what's actually going on under her roof.

 

You following so far? Yes? Well, that's the easy part because what comes next is chaos, mayhem and a shock that will leave you talking for days!

 

Song as Ki-taek is a father who isn't sure of anything except if you reach high enough you'll eventually find a wifi signal. He is thrilled when his son gets a good job even if they have to fudge things a bit. That one good day sets into motion craziness that he could have never saw coming on his best day folding pizza boxes (you'll get that reference soon enough).

 

Choi as Ki-woo is pretty happy with his new job and even happier when the family expands their ability to get their phones turned on. He's feeling more comfortable than he ever has in his life thinking this all could last forever. Park as Ki-Jung is smart, cutting and cunning all wrapped up in a ball that is calm, cool and totally collected. She likes this good life and a bottle of the bosses good stuff is a bonus.

 

Jo as Yeon-kyo is just trying to keep her household together and running smoothly. Getting her daughter and son squared away gives her a moment to enjoy the life, a beautiful home and a husband who brings home the bacon big time. Lee as Dong-ik just wants things around him to be as smooth as Kim's turning radius in a Benz, then again, don't we all?

 

Jung as Da-hye is a young girl who clearly doesn't find anything redeeming about learning but certainly doesn't mind 'Kevin' being their each day either. Jung as Da-song is high strung with a ghost story Mom is keeping away from everyone. Lee as Moon-gwang is just a peach of a woman who has been in that particular house for many, many years. Let that be a warning.

 

Other cast include Myeong-hoon Park as Geun-se, Seo-joon Park as Min and Keun-rok Park as Yoon.

 

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are film of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

 

The Bluray, DVD and Digital Bonus Features include A Q&A with Director Bong Joon Ho.

 

MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on Movies Anywhere please visit www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

 

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this film PARASITE but let me tell you I could not stop watching it. I felt as if I was being lulled along with a story of a family that would do pretty much anything to make ends meet. I mean I know I'd be pretty upset if I had to chase down a wifi signal to the corner of a room sitting on top of a toilet. (I'm probably more serious than anyone realizes!)

 

But this family, the Kim family, are every bit as clever with survival instincts that are quite impressive. I'm being cautious on how to describe them because I am dead bug serious when I say each has to be experienced to believe them. I liked their ingenuity and the way they honestly celebrate each other. A family that plans together - well, you know.

 

Then the story goes really dark and I found myself sitting on the edge of the sofa not sure what was going to happen next. Who, what, where, are you kidding me? - are all words that were spoken out loud during the film (thank gawd I was alone). I haven't talked this much to a screen since my first viewing of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW in 1975.

 

All I can tell you without telling you is that PARASITE is a total mish mash of emotions, laughter, jaw drops, weird giggles and uncomfortable moments that had me captivated from start to finish.

 

It is absolutely no surprise to me now that PARASITE won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film and it no surprise that the film has been nominated for six Academy Awards. Adding to that list are SAG Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and over 100 awards and nominations and rightly deserved.

 

It’s a story of a family trying to stay together, another family trying to find their happiness together and a lot of unexpected insanity thrown in between.

 

In the end - it's all in the family!