A slick, high-concept Korean thriller that leans hard into escalating twists, emotional dread, and a bleak final reveal. It’s best enjoyed as a fast-moving puzzle box with a tragic core rather than a strictly realistic mystery.
65% ★★★☆☆ (61,028)
Forgotten
Where to watch: Netflix
Movie · Thriller · Mystery
2017 · 1h 48m · ★ 65% (61K)
Locked. Erased. Controlled. Isolated. Blurred.
Director: Chang Hang-jun
Starring: Kang Ha-neul, Kim Moo-yul, Moon Sung-keun
Overview
Jin-seok, 21-year-old, moves into a new house with his family. He suffers from a slight schizophrenia but he carries an ordinary life under the warm care of the family. His older brother Yu-seok is a decent college student, a mentor, and role model for Jin-seok. One night, his beloved brother is kidnapped by unidentified assailants before Jin-seok's eye. Jin-seok can’t recognize their faces, but can remember only the VIN that matches with no car. After long silence of 19 days, suddenly Yu-seok returns home, but remembers nothing which had happened in the meantime. And soon Jin-seok feels Yu-seok is a total stranger.
Director
Chang Hang-jun
Production
BA Entertainment, Michigan Venture Capital, Plus M Entertainment, Kiwi Media Group, Baram Pictures, Union Investment Partners
Cast
Kang Ha-neul, Kim Moo-yul, Moon Sung-keun, Na Young-hee, Nam Myung-ryeol, Lee Na-ra, Jeong Taek-hyeon, Jung Chan-bi, Choi Go, Bae Seong-il, Lee Soon-won, Byeon Dong-joon, Kang Sin-gu, An Min-young, Park Jae-yeong, Park Chae-ik, Kwon Jae-hwan, Moon Seong-pil, Eom In-woo, Kim Tae-eung
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A slick, high-concept Korean thriller that leans hard into escalating twists, emotional dread, and a bleak final reveal. It’s best enjoyed as a fast-moving puzzle box with a tragic core rather than a strictly realistic mystery.
Best for
fans of twist-heavy thrillers
viewers who like Korean crime cinema
people who enjoy bleak emotional payoffs
audiences looking for a fast, propulsive mystery
Skip if
you dislike convoluted plotting
you want grounded, realistic crime procedure
you get frustrated by repeated reversals
you prefer subtle, low-key mysteries
Overview
Forgotten is built like a trapdoor: every time it seems to settle into one genre mode, it drops into another. What starts as a family mystery quickly becomes a more elaborate game of identity, memory, and manipulation, with the film constantly re-framing what you think you know. The pleasure here is less in solving the case than in watching the movie keep outmaneuvering you.
Worth noting
The film’s biggest asset is its momentum. It moves with the confidence of a thriller that knows exactly when to withhold information and when to unleash it, and it uses that rhythm to keep the emotional stakes alive even as the plot gets increasingly baroque. The performances help sell the shifting loyalties and growing unease, especially once the home no longer feels like a home.
Bottom line
It won’t work for everyone. If you need airtight logic or hate when a movie keeps adding one more layer of explanation, this can feel overengineered. But if you’re in the mood for a glossy, nasty, emotionally bruising mystery with a memorable final stretch, it delivers the kind of “wait, what?” experience that thriller fans chase.
Top Letterboxd reviews
josh (5★) · 4150 likes
"How many plot twists should we put in here?" YES.
Marianna Neal 🇺🇦 (4★) · 2288 likes
Ummm... Koreans know how to write a twisted plot... THAT was pretty crazy, and definitely twisted. Also kind of sad. This is why I love Korean cinema.
Finn (3.5★) · 2047 likes
Forgotten (2017) dir. Jang Hang-jun be like: ↩️↪️↩️↪️⤴️⤵️↔️↗️↘️➡️⬅️↪️↩️🔁🔂🔄⤴️
Olivier Lemay (1.5★) · 1739 likes
just because you can write a twist doesn’t mean you should
2000 · Mystery, Thriller · 1h 53m · R · ★ 91% (3.2M) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A memory-driven puzzle film that makes identity and perception the engine of the story.
A famous example of a twist-driven narrative that rewards close attention to detail.
Themes
memory and identity, family betrayal, abduction and captivity, psychological manipulation, twisted fate, trauma and grief, truth and deception, paranoia
Topics
Korean thriller, psychological mystery, crime drama, twist ending, family suspense, memory loss, dark tone, neo-noir, 2010s cinema