Author Archives: Russell

A suprisingly powerful film from the director of the amusing Barking Dogs Never Bite, this film about a serial killer has the tone of Se7en but without the weirdness. More importantly, Memories of Murder has addressed the debate about integrity in police methods with the greatest effectiveness since Orson Welles made Touch of Evil. Song Kang-ho (JSA, The Foul King) is, as always, dynamite as the cop who is obsessed with this case.

Every Korean … (read more)

It’s not often one finds an imdb review (usually written by some 12-year-old in Bumfuck Nebraska) suitable as a quotable quote but with Kargil; Line Of Control, the review which begins as “Dull, tedious and racist” is hard to beat and harder to deny.

Based on battles which took place on the line of control (a kind of fuzzy and perennially combat strewn no man’s land) in the region of the India and Pakistan border in 1999, Line Of Control… (read more)

While 2004 seemed an obvious indicator that the artistic output of Kim Ki-Duk was gathering momentum, it cannot be claimed that he is moving in a straight line. It is well-known that The Coast Guard was rushed into production (apparently because of the film-maker’s own restlessness and perhaps a desire to meet the 2002 Pusan International Film Festival’s opening night deadline) when weather conditions forced a rescheduling of the shoot of Spring summer, Autumn, Winter …and Spring. So anyone … (read more)