Memoir of a Murderer (2017)
Memoir of a Murderer is a South Korean thriller movie that came out in 2017. Based on the book A Murderer's Guide to Memorization by Kim Young-ha.
TL;DR A murderer with Alzheimer's. That's it. That's the movie. 😎
How I Watched: Tubi
(Availability may change at any notice)
Couldn't put my finger on it but I didn't have high hopes for this movie when I first saw it. After reading the brief plot it just came across like it would be like a 2 dimensional plot with overly theatrical yet arrogant diatribes (Dexter, anyone?) Alas, I came out the other side the complete opposite. It's a pretty great movie, actually. And I'm gonna tell ya why.
This movie is about Byeong-soo who is a serial killer that has developed a type of dementia after a car accident, but he has flashes of his killer past slowly bubbling up to the surface. He is single father with an adult daughter named Eun-hee who takes care of him and frequently has to fetch him from the police station every time he forgets where he lives. She gives him this voice recorder to help him retain at least some memory when it seems to fade again as a playback.
Things come to a head when Byeong-soo has a chance encounter with a man named Min Tae-joo after a minor rear end accident. Byeong-soo takes a glance inside his open trunk and sees BLOOD! He swipes a sample before communicating with this calm, handsome yet eerily smiling young man who doesn't give a hoot about his fucked up car. Thus, didn't want the police involved. Upon Byeong-soo's insistence, he accepts his business card just in case. This is when he starts to use his voice recorder to start documenting crucial info since his spidey senses are tingling thinking this dude is acting a little sus. So from what I can understand, he sort of remembers his own murders but it comes and goes in fragments.
It starts to get super creepy when this young eerie dude ends up romancing Eun-hee much to dad's dismay. It's pretty unfortunate that whatever concern or even real based suspicions he voices ends up falling on deaf ears and everyone dismisses it due to his deteriorating Alzheimer's disease. Feels bad, man. He loves his daughter and wants the best for her so he presses on. All while relying back on his voice recorder when his memory short circuits to not remembering shit.
What I really like about this movie is the articulate story progression. It was a tad of a slow burner at the start but definitely left clues to keep you straddled in as we are shown the inner workings of his mind as obviously this entire movie is from his perspective with some internal monologues especially at the beginning of this film. However, some events are non linear.
Now that I really sat and thought about this movie for a few hours after my initial viewing, I now know why I went into this movie expecting it to be underwhelming was because it almost sounded like it was a Dexter ripoff. Yo, it's not. This movie doesn't exactly focus as much on the killings or even the arrogance of getting away with it but more on the aftermath of an aging murderer along with the psychological effects of this dude's deteriorating mental state documenting his struggles with his moral compass and determining what is reality. It's a fascinating perspective in a scary movie like this. I whole heartedly welcome this.
I think this is definitely a rewatchable movie and I'd absolutely would love to come across this movie again. Definitely left a core memory in me at least! This isn't some basic ass murderer confessionals type of movie like...ahem THE BODY. The ending was definitely not what I was expecting. It left me in a state of disbelief. I'm totally glad this wasn't the kind of movie where the entire story ends with a neatly wrapped bow along with a predictable ass ending. To me, at least. It truly is a breath of fresh air to see a movie about a serial killer...not serial killing lol. It's rather thought provoking. Probably how the Dexter series should have ended. To be clear I didn't get a chance to watch the random ass final season of Dexter many years after the actual show ended. I read the wiki synopsis though! Plus I haven't seen one person that say they actually liked it anyway. Trust. All in all, it's a beautiful movie fantastically written. A must watch for sure!
If this movie had a message what would it be? Can you really trust your memory?
Is there any disclaimers for this movie? What really stuck out to me was maybe child cries of distress. If that triggers you then please don't proceed with this movie. No child is being depicted as physically harmed in any way. Just sadness. Mild cursing in Korean but that's nothing really.
Age demographics? Mature teens.
With that being said, what is my verdict?
Disturbingly sweet
If you are interested in watching Memoirs of a Murderer, then please CLICK HERE to see which streaming services you can watch it on via the free streaming guide app JUSTWATCH!!
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