Rating: TV-MA
Director: Jang Hang-jun
Story: Handsome 21-year-old student Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul), an easygoing guy on anxiety meds for an unnamed condition, moves into a new home with his parents and older brother, sharing a room with his brother after his father tells them that the previous homeowner is still storing some stuff in the other bedroom at the opposite end of the second-floor hall; a room he cautions his sons must never be entered. On top of second-guessing himself when Jin-seok begins to hear thumps and scrapes and other strange noises coming from behind the closed door at the end of the hall, the young man's life is further turned upside-down when he witnesses his brother Yoo-seok (Kim Mu-yeol) being kidnapped by a group of men one dark, rainy night ... and when Yoo-seok returns nineteen days later, with no memory of where he's been or what happened, Jin-seok slowly begins to realize that the man who came home just may not be his brother.
Review: One thing I love about Korean cinema (particularly over American cinema) is that films never "dumb down" their plots/stories for the audience. Sometimes the viewer has to think things out, get confused for a bit before figuring out fully what's going on. And the twists! Forgotten has them back to back to back, and just when you think you might have figured things out or at least know where things might be heading ... oops, wrong again! And you've gotten on another rollercoaster altogether. I watched this because of Kang Ha-neul, one of my most favorite actors, who here brings fresh-faced innocence to Jin-seok, whose fear and paranoia become palpable as he starts to try figuring out what's really going on with the man claiming to be his brother - even while, as the viewer, you wonder if all this is real, or how much Jin-seok's condition (and/or anti-anxiety meds) might figure into the equation, especially when Jin-seok begins questioning even his own parents' roles in whatever might be going on. The film's strength is definitely in building that sense of fear, confusion and dread in viewers right along with Jin-seok, and when the twists start coming - each flipping the story in nearly another direction - it's a heart-racing journey following the young man to the truth ... right up to the very final, even heartbreaking reveal in, literally, the last few moments of the film. My only "complaint," if you can call it that, is the film's not exactly uplifting ending. But even that felt - if not happy - at least felt "right"; the proper, honest closure to an exciting, very well-crafted and suspenseful thriller trying to mess with your mind ... and succeeding. 8.5/10 stars
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