After some painstaking delays, we are finally getting a new movie fromBong Joon-ho, one of the masters of tonal balance and comedic tragedy. Following his universal acclaim forParasite, it brought lots of Western audiences in touch with the wealth of amazing Asian cinema that has too often flown under the radar. One is Joon-ho’sMemories of Murder, a stellar mix of tense police procedural and undercutting comedy. This is the director’s best use of tonal mixing to create a true sense of foreboding inevitability, something that it achieves better thanParasite. WhilstJoon-ho’s Oscar-winning masterpieceis obviously amazing and doesn’t put a foot wrong on its own, when compared toMemories of Murder, the latter executes a level of dark comedy so deftly realized that it turns an already gritty procedural into one of the best comedic tragedies of the 2000s.
Memories of Murderwithholds any sense of catharsis for its audience, whereasParasitefeels like it falters at the end in that regard. Neither finishes neatly, butMemories of Murder’sfinal moments rely on a slow build-up of drama thatParasiteprefers to put directly into our faces. Both methods are effective, butMemories of Murdercan elevate itself beyondParasitein how it manipulates the audience beyond the confines of its genre. The blurring of heroes and villains in both movies adds to the conflicting sentiment of theviolent outbursts Joon-ho forces upon us, butsomething about the grittiness ofMemories of Murdergives it stakes thatParasitekeeps more internal.
‘Memories of Murder’ Is a Unique Crime Thriller
Memories of Murder
Memories of Murderfollows two detectives as they hunt for a serial rapist and murderer, based on the real-life killings carried out by Lee Choo-jae. This is a simple synopsis because the strength ofMemories of Murderlies in how it subverts the expected finality that comes with movies like this. Joon-ho masterfully plays with our feelings, setting up a dark story and peppering it with moments of physical comedy and instances of almost self-parody.Memories of Murderbalances the external implications of what these crimes mean with the internal anguish that is felt when he slips through the detectives' fingers again.Parasitepulls off a similar conceit, but its internal stakes don’t quite translate to the world around them in the same effective way.
Parasite Director Bong Joon-ho Can’t Get Enough Of This Alfred Hitchcock Movie
Can you guess what it is?
Parasitewaits until the final act to show what the movie means. As the insular dynamics of the characters spill over into the real world, the commentary on class constructs doesn’t get as much room as it could in the final party scene.Memories of Murderis constantly poking holes in their investigation by undercutting the tension and keeping the audience emotionally distant from the characters.Parasitebrings its audience along for the ride, butMemories of Murderkeeps them away, and the latter’s effect is ultimately more powerful.
‘Memories of Murder’ Balances Comedy and Drama
The ability to balance two conflicting tones often works on a subconscious, subliminal level. It’s not always obvious when the tension deliberately fizzles from a scene, and the same is true forMemories of Murder. There are no heroes in this world on either side of the line, and as it becomes more blurry,Memories of Murderdelights in its masochism. If there’s a break in the case, Joon-ho drags us 10 steps backwards. If there’s an uncomfortable moment of awkward comedy, Joon-ho forces us to sit in it, to feel its weight.Memories of Murderisn’t interested in being an easy experience for anyone involved.
Best Performances in Bong Joon-ho Movies, Ranked
The genius South Korean filmmaker has a handful of great films under his name. With great movies, come great performances.
When the crime dramadoes come to a head, it’s treated with so much rigidity as to not allow anyone a moment to breathe. The stakes are obvious from the outset, to stop these people being killed, but the case slowly becomes more personal for the characters as they invest more time in it, and it becomes more about their fragile masculinities than actually helping people. Joon-ho wisely pokes holes in the two detectives from the start, so when they are set up for their big hero moments, they purposefully deflate when they are reminded that there’s more going on than just them.It’s an excellent drama, not judging its characters in the same way that it only offers a shrug when the ‘heroes’ don’t get to win.
Bong Joon-ho Wants His Audience to Be Uncomfortable
In both the cases ofMemories of MurderandParasite,Bong Joon-ho knows when to villainize his characters and when to light them with sympathy. But even when he does this, it’s never in a traditional sense and never without caveats.Memories of Murderforces its characters into uncomfortable situations, and even though we remain distant from them, that feeling seeps its way into everything else, in how he denies a generic structure, and how he shows the murders as impersonal.
Even ifParasiteis a bit more freneticand less psychological, both movies delight in confronting the characters with the realities of their worlds and where they fit in them. There’s always someone higher up or more powerful, and as the leads try to turn the tables, Joon-ho is constantly throwing obstacles in their way to stop them. Not to necessarily maintain the status quo, but to underline the harshness of the world.
A lot of Asian cinema is good at balancing delicate tones of happiness and sadness, whether it be from something likeIn the Mood for LoveorOldboy. Where Joon-ho differs from these other directors is his ability to make these tonal switches flow seamlessly into each other.Memories of MurderandParasitefeel inevitable when they compound the external pressures of the world into a battle between a select few and show how destructive it has all been when it zooms back out again.Memories of Murderis streaming onTubinow.Bong Joon-ho’s latest film,Mickey 17, is in theaters now.
