Memories of Murder (2003) review

Or perhaps more accurately, Memories of Red Herrings. Part murder investigation, part light-hearted police tomfoolery, this mixed-tone, 'based on a true story' procedural is about the hunt for South Korea's first serial killer back in the mid-80's. I failed to respond to the constant jumping back in forth between macabre re-creations of the deaths of actual women with the cops-behaving-poorly elements, with them picking on the innocent and mentally-challenged, frequently dropkicking anyone and everyone they suspect of having anything to do with the murders (although comically brutal, these strong-arm tactics fail to endear anyone to the 'detectives'), nor did the occasional screaming/yelling/overacting draw me any further into the film. While director Bong's trying to say something about relying on basic evidence and 'guesswork' - pre-DNA testing or super-intelligent forensic pathologists like Dr. Michael Baden sitting in an autopsy room with microscopes and tweezers - it's not easy to overlook the fact that the cops are partly to blame for the murders because of their bunk theorizing (no pubic hair on the killer?) and self-defeating aggression.