Back when 2020 was still filled with golden promise and the world hadn’t completely turned on its head, Bong Joon Ho made history with his multi-Oscar winning Parasite – a break-out thriller-satire-dark-comedy that brought his signature genre-melding filmmaking to a massive audience. While the success of the film likely sent swathes of viewers to check out more of his films, including The Host and Okja and Mother, one of the all-time Director Bong classics is particularly tricky to track down in the UK. 2003's Memories Of Murder is one of his most acclaimed films, a Zodiac-esque tale of the police hunt for a serial killer in South Korea, blending thrills and pathos and gags in his signature Bong-ian brew. But it’s nigh-on unavailable here, relegated to an out-of-print standard-def DVD release that fetches high prices on eBay.
Not anymore. Curzon, who also released Parasite, is re-releasing Memories Of Murder in a matter of weeks, remastered in shiny 4K. It will be available in some cinemas, and also on VOD on the Curzon Home Cinema streaming service from 11 September. Check out the re-release poster.
And here’s the official synopsis: “In 1986 Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, after two women are found raped and murdered, Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon is brought in to help local detective Park Doo-man with the investigation. As more bodies are found, the pair realise they have a serial killer on their hands. Inspired by true events, Bong Joon Ho's sophomore feature blends true-crime with social satire and even comedy in his typically masterful fashion.”
Memories Of Murder stars Song Kang-Ho (also of Parasite, The Host, Snowpiercer, and several Park Chan-Wook films), and has long been hailed not just as one of Bong’s very best – but as one of the greatest serial killer thrillers of the new millennium. In short, we’re all in for a treat. Also getting the re-issue treatment is Bong’s debut feature Barking Dogs Never Bite, similarly hard to access in the UK before now, which will stream on Curzon Home Cinema from 18 September.
READ MORE: A Film-By-Film Guide To Bong Joon Ho