Based on a play this film depicts two detectives hunting down a serial killer in Hwaseong, Korea in the 80s. Directed by Bong Joon-Ho, director of films like The Host, Snowpiercer, and award winning Parasite. Also starring Song Kang-Ho, who has worked in  a number of Bong’s films, as well as many other amazing films.
In the farmland of Hwaseong women are turning up raped and murdered. The real killer, Lee Chun-Jae killed 15 women and was reported to have over 45 victims over the span of nearly a decade.
This film isn’t gritty in the way special effects and edgy music can bring. Rather, it is slow burn. In the 80s when resources for detective work was limited and children ran wild through crime scenes, the hope of catching the killer seems almost hopeless.
But there is an energy amd atmosphere about the film that keeps you there with the detectives. You see them working tirelessly, at one point one of them getting IV fluids courtesy of his wife. And you see the toll it begins to take on their sanity as well as their moral compass.
Bong Joon-Ho won an Oscar for best director for good reason. He is a master at his craft. This isn’t going to be a Dahmer type serial killer movie. It is more of a ride with the detectives who are trying to catch the killer.