The three-act structure of a narrative seems to have become the staple of not only novels, but also most movies. For the audience to follow the story easily, it needs to have the beginning, the denouement and the closure; otherwise, a movie is most likely to leave the viewers confused and frustrated.
However, some of the movie directors seem to be brave enough to reject the formula and cast one of the elements aside. Memories of Murder is one of such movies; by making the ending unclear and the fates of the characters uncertain, the moviemaker managed to relate the content of the movie to the political situation that the Korean people were trapped in at the time.
Before going into the artistic details of the movie, one must give a brief description of what Korea represented economically at the time. According to the existing reports, the state was at the brink of a national crisis, with the IMF issues, the industrial reconstruction and the so-called “368 generation,” the “post-crisis Korean crime comedies” (Li 21), as Li defined them.
Therefore, the vagueness and uncertainty were the defining features of the era. This vagueness obviously worked its way into the movie, leaving the viewers to ask themselves whether justice has any chances in fighting corruption, and whether a criminal can be left unpunished.
In a more general way, the ending to the movie can be interpreted as a battle between the good and the evil; either way, the ending is supposed to leave a trail of moral dilemmas for the audience to solve.
Being a clear cut example of the “Korean New Wave” of cinematography, Memories of Murder serves as a mirror to the reality that Korea was wrapped into at the time. The movie director makes the audience focus on the lives of individuals, thus, representing the very essence of the Korean society and exposing its faults, problems and malfunctions.
Belonging to the type of movies that are basically a “cinematic response to social, cultural, and political changes” (Moon 45), Memories of Murder thrills the audience with its intense plot and then ends abruptly, rendering the nature of the Korean society of 2000s, shocked, vague in its desires and uncertain in its intentions, threatened by the economic downfall and anticipating the worst.
Though the uncertainties in the ending of Memories of the Murder may be considered a bit artsy and unnatural, seeing that it goes against the staples of the genre, the ambiguity at the end allows for opening a range of themes and contexts to the audience.
The lack of compliance with the traditional formula for a murder mystery tricks the audience into paying attention and, therefore, is used to convey a range of hidden innuendoes to them. The fact that the movie ends abruptly and does not provide the answer to who the murderer actually was allows the audience to focus on its other aspects and, thus, understand the message behind it.
Moreover, some questions do not need to be answered. The audience does not need to be spoon-fed with all the answers immediately before the closing credits. Quite on the contrary, people need to be challenged; the movie must provide them with some food for thoughts, intriguing them and making them analyze the artistic representation of reality, which the ending in the Memories of a Murder is a graphic example of.
Works Cited
Li, Jinying. “Clowns, Crimes, and Capital: Popular Crime-Comedies in Post-Crisis Korea.” Film International 38 (2009), 20–34.
Moon, Jae-cheol. “The Meaning of Newness in Korean Cinema: Korean New Wave and After.” Korean Journal 46.1 (2008), 37–59.