Never before has a detective novel by the acclaimed Jef Geeraerts been adapted for the cinema. This is strange because Geeraerts writes powerful and dynamic detective characters, through which he shows a real flair for the visual and the cinematic. His novels have a very deep soul, which dig deeper into the human condition than we are used to in this genre.
If Geeraerts was not Flemish, his stories about tormented contract killers’ corrupt power games and smart sleuths might already have been filmed by Michael Mann, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher or John Woo. And, in a not so distant past, by Sam Peckinpah, Don Siegel or Jean-Pierre Melville. But he is one of us and so has had to wait years for the silver screen's recognition!
May THE MEMORY OF A KILLER be the first in a long succession of films of Geeraerts thrillers, because after a few days of shooting it was clear for me: this is a world that has stayed hidden much too long from cinema audiences and thriller buffs.
— Erik Van Looy