Genre : Thriller
Director : Jang Hang-jun
Platform : Netflix
Forgotten 2017 is a south Korean psychological thriller about a family which moves to a new house. One rainy night Yoo-seok, the protagonist’s brother, gets kidnapped. He returns home 19 days later having no memory. The protagonist then tries to solve the mystery of his brother and gets involved in much larger and intricate plot.
In the first half we get acquainted with the family and the house. The pace is quite slow and all the suspenseful scenes seem illogically bland. In one scene the protagonist says that he heard something upstairs and not a single family member believes him. Here, there was too much drama which I could not take anymore.
But I was wrong all the way. I fell into the trap planted by the director. Based on the beginning, I started underestimating only to get shocked by the twist that came at the midpoint of the screenplay. The path of the story changes completely and we constantly get another twist which surprises us even more.
The end of Parasite (2019) made me sad, surprised and inspired at the same time. The south Korean movies (as of what I have seen) always tend to break your heart in a much deeper sense. Forgotten does the same. The pain and sorrow the characters suffer embeds into our psychic and it puts an everlasting impression.
The Woman in the Window (2021) worked on a similar synopsis. However, it wasn’t successful in binding the sub-plots, mystery and flashbacks together coherently.
The story of Forgotten can’t be explained in one sentence easily. It is complexified with different timelines and sub-plots which we couldn’t even predict. It is surely a hidden gem which people aren’t talking much about. If you a thriller fan, this is the movie you shouldn’t miss out on.
An Indian reviewer who writes about horror and thriller movies/series. If not movies, he likes to pick up a mystery book to read. Some of his favourite movies/series include Stranger Things, Elite (S1-3), Train to Busan, Andhadhun, Strangers: Prey at Night.