Overview of Forgotten
‘Forgotten’ is a South Korean movie written and directed by Jang Hang-jun. The movie is starring by Kang Ha-neul, Kim Mu-yeol, Moon Sung-keun, and Na Young-hee. It was released on 29 November 2017.
The story revolves around Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul) who suffers from hypersensitivity. Through medication, he comes back to normal life, but the disappearance and return of his older brother triggers his hypersensitivity once again. The incident leads to the regaining of his lost memory.
Profile
- Name: Forgotten
- Starring: Kang Ha-neul, Kim Mu-yeol, Moon Sung-keun, Na Young-hee
- Genre: Psychological thriller
- Directed by: Jang Hang-jun
- Written by: Jang Hang-jun
- Produced by: Park Joon-sik
- Production Companies: B.A. Entertainment, Baram Pictures
- Cinematography: Kim Il-yeon
- Music by: Kim Tae-hoon
- Edited by: Heo Seon-mi
- Running time: 109 minutes
- Distributed by: Kiwi Company, Megabox Plus M
- Release date: 29 November 2017
- Country: South Korea
- Language: Korean
Cast
- Kang Ha-neul as Jin-seok
- Kim Mu-yeol as Yoo-seok
- Na Young-hee as The Mother
- Moon Sung-keun as The Father
- Choi Go as Choi Seung-uk
- Yoo In-soo as High school student
- Nam Myeong-ryeol as Professor Choi
- Kim Hyun-mok as a student at police station
- Lee Sung-woo
- Lee Dong-jin
- Yeon Je-hyung
Synopsis
Jin-seok moves into a new house with his family of four members, father, mother, and older brother, Yoo-seok. In the new house, Jin-seok and his older brother are restricted from opening the room, which consists of the belongings of the previous resident. At night, the brothers go for a walk in the rain. In front of Jin-seok’s eyes, a group of people kidnap Yoo-seok. At the end of the 19th day of abduction, Yoo-seok returns home without any memory of the past 19 days.
Jin-seok suffers from hypersensitivity. Therefore, when his brother returns, he starts to doubt that he is someone else but not his brother. However, Yoo-seok, on the other hand, complains that Jin-seok is hallucinating due to his improper medication. Jin-seok does not believe the words of his brother and goes to a police station. He complains about his elder brother’s abnormal behaviours. However, the police take his words as a madman’s blabbering since the year he is referring to is 1997, but in reality, the year is 2017.
At present, Jin-seok is 41 years old, but he believes that he is living in 1997, when he was only 21 years old. Later, he returns home and unlocks the restricted room’s door. The room has been set as a scene after a murder.
20 years ago, a mother and her young daughter were killed in that room. The police officers were not able to catch the murderer. One of the survivors in the family is still investigating the incident. At the end of the investigation, it was concluded that Jin-seok was involved in the crime. However, in the current scenario of Jin-seok, having no memory of his past creates a barrier to further investigation. Also, it wiped out the chance of hearing the truth from Jin-seok’s mouth.
To bring back his memory Yoo-seok hires a psychiatrist. After analysing the health condition of Jin-seok, the psychiatrist stated that Jin-seok is affected by dissociative amnesia, and a recreation of past events might help him remember the past incidents.
They fix a rainy night to recreate the incident; the psychiatrist agrees to act as the father; and they hire a person called Choi to enact the role of mother. However, their plan does not go well when the police capture the hired person for fraud. Nonetheless, the team decides to stick to their plan to recreate the murder scene from years ago.
After coming out of the police station, Choi chases Jin-seok in his van. However, Choi is not able to hit Jin-seok with his car. Instead, he crashes his van into something else and injures his head. On the other hand, Jin-seok gets hit by another car, which later helps in his memory recovery.
Jin-seok’s recovery from the car accident takes him back to the flashback story that happened in 1997. At that time, he was 21 years old. While travelling in their car, his family meets with an accident, and both his parents die. Yoo-seok becomes seriously injured. To save the life of his brother, Jin-seok starts to search for jobs.
One day he gets a job offer, and the job is to kill a mother of two children. If he succeeds in the mission, he will get the money for the treatment of his brother. As there are no other options available at hand, Jin-seok agrees to commit the murder.
He arrives at the victim’s house and commits the crime. Hearing the noise, the woman’s daughter comes into the scene. In panic, Jin-seok kills her daughter too. He spares his little son, thinking he is too young to understand the crime.
Later, he identifies that the people he killed were the wife and daughter of his brother’s doctor. A guilt-stricken Jin-seok approaches the doctor to know the reason behind the crime. From the doctor, Jin-seok learns that his family is going through financial problems, and if the doctor is able to claim the insurance money of his wife, he can provide a better life for his children with that money.
Now the doctor is furious with Jin-soek for killing his daughter and tries to kill him to avenge his daughter’s death. The fight results in the doctor’s accidental death.
Coming back to the present circumstance, Choi also gets through the accident. With the intention of killing Jin-seok, he goes to see him and reveals that he is the same child that Jin-seok had spared years ago. After the death of his parents, he ended up in an orphanage without any possessions. The insurance money he received after the death of his mother was looted by his relatives.
Choi accuses that Jin-seok made him live a pathetic life. Also, he asks Jin-seok about the involvement of his father in the crime. A guilty Jin-seok takes complete responsibility for the crimes and tells nothing about Choi’s father’s involvement in the murders. Jin-seok commits suicide after his confession.
Theme
The central theme of the movie ‘Forgotten’ can be identified as guilt. The main character, Jin-seok, is forced to kill a woman and her child to acquire money for his brother’s treatment. The incident turns him into a victim of hypersensitivity and dissociative amnesia.
After 20 years, Jin-seok is compelled to experience a recreation of the same incidents. It gives his memory back, making him go through the incidents that happened in 1997. The realisation of the murders by his hand adds to his guilt consciousness, and it finally causes his suicide.
Awards
No information is available.
Interesting Facts about Forgotten
- After the release of ‘Forgotten’ in the South Korean theatres, it was released on Netflix making sure it’s international streaming.
- The principle photography of ‘Forgotten’ was done between 11 March and 8 June 2017.
- Director Jang Hang-jun’s inspiration for making the movie ‘Forgotten’ was a French folktale, Bluebread. Also, he was inspired by a story told by his friend.
FAQs
- What is the Instagram ID of Kang Ha-neul?
@_kanghaneul. - When was the movie ‘Forgotten’ released?
29 November 2017. - Who are the main leads in ‘Forgotten’?
Kang Ha-neul, Kim Mu-yeol, Moon Sung-keun and Na Young-hee handle the lead roles in ‘Forgotten’.
- Who is the director of ‘Forgotten’?
Jang Hang-jun is the director of ‘Forgotten’.
