In the last scene of Memories of Murder, Song Kanghao stared at the camera with tears in his eyes. What is he looking at?

Memories of murder is a very rare suspense film that doesn't tell the plot result. Bong Joon ho chose Song Kanghao's affectionate gaze as the ending, which was not even an open ending.

Under normal circumstances, multi-episode suspense dramas prefer to "buckle" in this way, and from a technical point of view, it is very dangerous for the film to handle the ending like this, but director Feng Junhao still did it.

However, this kind of gaze, instead of lowering the score of the film, adds a lot of profound charm to the film because of its impact and implied meaning.

Memories of murder, a movie with no ending, is even called "the most perfect movie" by many people.

At the end of the movie, after listening to a little girl's story, Song Kanghao turned to face the camera.

On his round face, there are several emotions gathered in his eyes for the audience to interpret.

The first is anger, which comes from the inner activities of the policeman Park Doo-man played by Song Kanghao in the movie. After several investigations, he felt as if he had been played by a demon hiding in the dark.

Whenever I feel that I am close to the truth, Officer Park will be mercilessly poured cold water on me.

Repeated failures, the condemnation of the boss and the questioning of the people have all changed his mentality.

For him personally, the biggest blow came from the dark ridicule of the murderer hiding in the dark.

When "memories of murder" was released, it was more than ten years since the Huacheng case, but the murderer had not been brought to justice at that time.

It was not until 20 19 that the real murderer of the huacheng case was found, which is another story.

In 2003, if the murderer happened to hear and watch this film adapted from his evil deeds in the cinema, he would definitely make eye contact with police officer Park through the screen in the last shot, which is also the most straightforward role of this shot.

Song Kanghao's eyes are vacant, unwilling and confused.

When shooting this scene, Bong Joon ho gave the actors and photographers the impression that they were improvising on the spot.

Bong Joon ho asked Song Kanghao to look at the center of the camera, and Song Kanghao did, staring at it with a great expression.

This makes photographer Hyung-ku Kim very worried. It is a bold act to shoot and finally put this shot in the film. Hyung-ku Kim's nervousness and worry are normal.

The director only said, "No problem, just look at the camera." It seems that this shot is just his brainwave on the set.

But later, in an interview, Bong Joon ho said more about what he wanted to express.

In other words, he has a plan for this shot.

The problem of guiding thinking is simple, but torture is cruel. This is also why after the case, the South Korean side made every effort, but did not catch the murderer.

He concluded that it was not the police's ability or the killer's superior IQ. The result at that time was not caused by the wits and wits of both sides.

Bong Joon ho pointed the finger at a wider range, and he himself was in this range.

In the 1980s, the South Korean authorities imposed a curfew.

Bong Joon ho said, "We turned off the lights at night, and then there was a murder in that darkness. It's that simple. "

The "curfew" in Bong Joon ho may be broad. It is not a curfew for several hours every night, but describes that period as a "big curfew".

Song Kanghao stared at not only murderers and audiences, but the whole Korean society of that era.

It is not the murderer who ignores human life, but the era of Korean life.

Of course, this does not mean that there is an inevitable connection between the actions of the authorities and individual crimes.

The focus of memories of murder is to reflect the incompetence of the Korean government at that time, the ignorance and clumsiness of officials and the helplessness of the people through the killings.

Feng Junhao's films often have political meanings, but this memory of murder is relatively more vague.

The film's description of that era is not straightforward, and there is little explanation about the relationship between the case itself and the background of the times.

On the contrary, Bong Joon ho devoted more energy to props and art. Under the dim grayish yellow tone, everyone is slightly tired.

This film is really ingenious, as can be seen from the title of memories of murder, and Bong Joon ho's good intentions.

The word "memory" must come from the client, so after adding the attribute of "murder", it should refer to the memory of the murderer in this case.

However, from the beginning to the end of the memory of the murder, the murderer was not found. The "memory" in the title actually comes from the memory of the police, the memory of the victim, or the memory of the victim's family.

In addition, the film not only mentioned the memory of this murder case, but also recalled that era.

More precisely, the memory of murder is a kind of "collective memory".

For Koreans who have experienced that era, this film is more likely to resonate with them, so the film has achieved both box office and word-of-mouth harvest in Korea.

Overseas, it is not surprising that memories of murder has not won everyone's love and recognition.