Head-to-Head: Memories of Murder v.s. Zodiac

Memories of Murder: a 2003 Korean film based on the Hwaseong serial murders of 1986 - 1991, focusing on two detectives, the amiable Detective Park (Song Kang-ho), and the highly professional city detective Detective Seo (Kim Sang-kyung).

Zodiac: a 2007 American film that depicts the manhunt for the infamous Zodiac killer in 1960s/1970s San Francisco Bay area.

Directing: 

Bong Joon-ho 

v.s. 

David Fincher

It has to be said that both directors' work on their respective films rank among the all-time greats. Both craft such incredibly detailed and harrowing portraits of unseen and never-to-be discovered serial killers, but in such different ways. Fincher's approach is arguably more unrelenting in its darkness, but Zodiac is never one-note in this regard. It has sequences like the basement scene, and of course the murder sequences (and one lucky escape that is absolutely terrifying), which are horrifying in that they really get under your skin and make you feel like your at the scene of crime, at the moment. Fincher never cheats on the scares, and nor does Bong, who crafts everything from a rather entertaining and tense chase sequence, to a suspect's terrible and avoidable death, to a deeply unsettling rain-drenched murder.

The department of scares and chills are handled very well in both films, but where they perhaps most excel is in the procedural side of things. Bong opts for a somewhat more lighthearted approach in some ways, blending dark comedy with pure darkness to create some morbidly funny sequences, particularly on the incompetence of the cops. You really get to know the people investigating the crime as multidimensional characters, and it makes their every action resonate all the more. The 'Sad Letter' sequence is particularly amazing in how quickly it shifts from humorous interplay to a heartbreaking realization of failure. With Zodiac, Fincher presents a fascinating, broader scope of the procedural to take down the Zodiac killer. There's a touch of levity that he brings to the entertaining depiction of the media frenzy surrounding the case. But the dominant element is dread and paranoia, and Fincher masterfully creates this growing unease and terror within each investigator, and an obsession that strengthens with every passing day the killer is not found.

I always think a perfect way of appreciating what Fincher and Bong do with their respective films is to look at the opening and endings of their films. They create such a  harrowing arc in both films and reiterate similar elements/themes at the beginning and end to such different effect, with Fincher creating a surprisingly emotional conclusion within the framework of such a morbid case, and Bong crafting such a haunting ending out of a film which started in such a languid and easygoing fashion. Both films are directed impeccably, but I guess I'll give the win to Fincher by a hair for how he manages to make unrelenting dread feel so unnervingly natural within the film, without feeling over the top. 

Winner: David Fincher

The Leads: 

Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung 

v.s. 

Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo

Though acting may not be the most crucial element to either film, the strength of it in both films is essential to their success. Memories of Murder has a smaller ensemble and a more intimate scope and perspective of its two protagonists, Detectives Park (Song) and Seo (Kim), whereas Zodiac flits frequently beyond San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist-turned-amateur sleuth Robert Grayson (Gyllenhaal) and SFPD Inspector David Toschi (Ruffalo), in fact they could be argued as supporting as well if not for the second half of the film which gradually settles its main focus upon the both of them.

All four actors I mention here do an excellent job with their respective roles. Gyllenhaal has perhaps the more thankless role of the lot as its mostly a reactionary role as the audience's avatar into the world of the Zodiac, but he's effective as being our ostensible protagonist, conveying the growing obsession with the case with aplomb, and makes for an interesting counterpoint to Ruffalo, who plays a badass cop who never acts like a badass, he just is. Ruffalo could not be cooler and more assured as the legendary Toschi, who Steve McQueen looked to as an influence for Bullitt and who was the inspiration for Dirty Harry, and he's extremely good at slowly showing how even this cool customer gradually becomes worn down with the demons of the unsolved Zodiac cases. They also have a very interesting dynamic together that proves particularly fruitful in giving brief glimpses of hope in the second half of the film.

Song and Kim get considerably more time and focus together and thus, I'll have to concede that they made more of an impact on me overall. Song, one of Korea's greatest actors, is terrific as the hapless moronic but well-intentioned cop Park who treats the murder cases perhaps a bit too affably at the outset, and makes for a great duo with Kim's Seo who is a driven, serious and straightlaced fellow who immediately detects something bigger than just a series of random murders. They make for quite an entertaining comic duo in the lighter moments of the film, and even more effectively an affecting portrayal of how the mysterious murderer's actions cause such emotional distress in the normally stoic Seo, and a sort of emotional maturation in Park. It's great work by both actors as they manage to make such a strange coupling of characters and ideologies work in pursuit of a common good that ultimately fails.

Winner: Memories of Murder

The (Alleged) Murderer: Park Hae-il v.s. John Carroll Lynch

I have to say that while Park Hae-il's (who can also be seen in a far more likable role in Bong's The Host) Park Hyeon-gyu is appropriately creeping and unnerving, and makes for quite the convincing likely suspect, a lot of that effect is created by the atmospheric direction around his scenes. John Carroll Lynch, playing Arthur Leigh Allen who became on the primary suspects of the Zodiac case, has arguably less screentime than Park overall. It doesn't matter, because in his one big interrogation scene he's an extremely creepy creep, in such a naturalistic fashion. His delivery of the line 'I'm not the Zodiac, and even if I was, I certainly wouldn't tell you' alone is worth the price of admission.

Winner: Zodiac

The Ensemble

This is definitely one place where Zodiac trumps Memories of Murder, and not that the latter has a bad ensemble at all - Kim Roi-ha is enjoyably sleazy as one of the dumb local cops, Jeon Mi-seon is a sweet supportive figure, and Song Jae-ho has his moments as the strict superior to Park and Seo - but the former has an amazing one. Charles Fleischer, he of Roger Rabbit fame, has one incredibly creepy scene, Robert Downey Jr. is his usual spunky and entertaining self as the hotshot journalist Paul Avery, and Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, and Anthony Edwards have their own memorable moments as more minor but still very impactful characters. Best of the lot, though, is perhaps Jimmi Simpson as one of the Zodiac killer's victims. He has about a minute's worth of screentime at the very end of the film, and gives one of my all-time favourite reaction shots to a picture of 'him'.

Winner: Zodiac

Screenplay

Both films have incredibly intricate and detailed screenplays, and the one to Zodiac is particularly surprising in that it was written by James Vanderbilt who would later go on to write...the Amazing Spider-Man films, and uh, White House Down. Where those films were at the same time painfully generic and hopelessly disordered in their writing process, this film pares down any extraneous material, is respectful of the victims' privacy while giving enough insight into the murders, and provides such snappy dialogue and exposition-free handling of the case's details. I'll have to give the win here to Memories of Murder though, for its often hilarious and heartfelt, heartbreaking and deeply personal, while also very understatedly intelligent screenplay that grants so much character development on the go, and culminates in one of the finest closing words in all cinema: 'Ordinary'. 

Winner: Memories of Murder

Editing

Both films are paced impeccably, with Zodiac in particular never feeling quite as long as it actually is. Both Angus Wall and Kim Sun-min have standout sequences in this regard, Zodiac in the Lake Berryessa scene where despite the sunny backdrop manages to create an utterly horrifying sequence by how every line, reaction shot and sound effect is so unnerving, and Memories of Murder in the aforementioned chase sequence. I give Zodiac the edge here because in the wrong hands, it could have felt like a very long and dragging film due to how many different subplots it has to undergo.

Winner: Zodiac

Cinematography

As terrific as Zodiac's cinematography is, Memories of Murder has some of my all-time favourite shots. I'll let the visuals speak for themselves here.

Winner: Memories of Murder

Sound

I have to go back to that basement scene again. It manages to make a casual visit downstairs to a seemingly kindly old man's basement the stuff of nightmares, and a large part of that has to be attested to the excellent sound mixing and editing which achieves the perfect balance of horror and ambiguity. Memories of Murder has excellent sound design as well, but again Zodiac wins by the slightest of hairs. 

Winner: Zodiac

Soundtrack

Memories of Murder and Zodiac both have music playing a big part in their films. With Memories of Murder the extradiagetic score by the prolific Taro Iwashiro is eloquent and beautiful, but also so very haunting, and the intradiagetic use of the 'Sad Letter' is unforgettable. Zodiac's score is very effective, David Shire makes sure never to overplay his cards and never oversteps the boundaries between creepy and too-obviously creepy. And of course there's the use of Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' at the beginning and end which cements it among the best uses of film music in history.

Winner: A tie

Verdict: Both are great films. I suppose I'll give the slight edge to Zodiac, but they're both downright amazing films in their own ways. Neither ever feels like an exploitative serial killer film, but rather a film that very deeply feels for its victims and investigators, and creates such compelling narratives without resorting to cheap scares or gratuitous violence.