Watching Memories of Murder again last night for probably the fifth time and it keeps getting better.

What Bong Joon-ho does in that film that almost nobody talks about is how he manages the audience's relationship with the detectives. For the first act we're uncomfortable with their methods but we're on their side. By the third act we're not sure if the incompetence is tragic or criminal. By the end we're not sure what justice would even look like.

Parasite gets all the discussion about class but Memories of Murder does something more interesting — it shows how institutions fail not because of individual evil but because of collective mediocrity and systemic pressure.

The final shot is one of the best in modern cinema. The detective looking directly at camera is an accusation but also an invitation. It's asking the audience: you've been watching this for two hours. What are you going to do?