Unforgivable

Story: Detective Dong-geun (Kim Jung-hyun) has to deal with a murder which happened in a public restroom. The victim was beaten to death with a hammer and there is a note in his mouth. Its message has a date on it that reaches back ten years. After some research, the detective finds out that the note comes from a notepad belonging to Yeong-hoon (Yoon Dong-won). But he is not a suspect because he took his own life ten years ago. However, at that time he served his military service at the same place as the victim. Detective Dong-geun therefore visits Yeong-hoon's mother Hae-yeon (Gil Hae-yeon) and asks her if she knows anything about the whereabouts of the notepad. But she has never seen the writing pad and it is not among the belongings her son left behind either. Dong-geun finds out over time that the victim had bullied some people during his military service, including Yeong-hoon. The question now is who the other bullying victims were, as they are potential suspects. Then the detective discovers that the murder victim actually harassed others on behalf of Kim Seong-hyeon (Park Sung-hyun). And when the results from the analysis of the DNA traces from the crime scene are back, they point in Kim's direction. Nevertheless, some things do not add up in this case. And when there is suddenly also a connection to an earlier murder, the traces of which lead to someone who was in prison at the time of the crime, it becomes clear to the detective that someone is playing games with him.

Review: "Unforgivable" starts like a typical thriller, you are even thrown directly into the crime scene of a murder. After it becomes clear that you are not really supposed to feel sorry for the dead man, since he has bullied others during his lifetime, our interest is still piqued to find out who the murderer is. But it doesn’t turn out to be that easy. More and more people end up on the investigator’s list of suspects, we need flashbacks to mainly two different timelines in order to make sense of it all, and it turns out that everything is a bit more complicated than you would think. Or not: Because despite some attempts to set the viewer on the wrong track, it has never been so easy for me to guess who the actual murderer was. Furthermore, Detective Dong-geun's behavior soon makes it clear that he knows more than he leads on and that he used to be acquainted with one of the people in the case. Eventually, it even becomes apparent that we get more of a drama here, as the issue of bullying in the military and at school increasingly comes to the fore. This is a bit problematic, because with that the tone of the movie turns out quite inconsistent.

In addition, viewers are expected to pay a lot of attention, at least at the beginning. Not only do we get to know some potential perpetrators, but they are also shown in flashbacks with even more people, and so you have to pay close attention to keep track of everything. Especially since names are constantly being thrown around too. Just when you think you are pretty much lost and couldn't possibly catch up anymore, the confusion subsides, and we realize who is really important for the story. It is quite fascinating that the victim as well as the original first victim who appears later evoke little to no sympathy. It turns out that "Unforgivable" is a story about bullying. Especially the harassment that people have to endure during two years of military service is seldomly brought to light in Korea. This is where the movie places its focus on, even though we get another timeline set in school, where bullying is also the order of the day. But the plot still has one problem. It also revolves around homophobia, whose portrayal might be considered a bit exaggerated in the west, but might still be reality in Korea.

So, if you are able to accept that being gay is or was an enormous stigma in Korean society - "was" because the bullying took place ten years ago, and in the present we even hear some people say that it's not a big deal anymore - the decisions of some characters may not feel quite so extreme anymore. Nevertheless, you can't help but feel like some things were overdramatized for the screenplay. Sadly, you also come to a point in the story where you're not sure if the script still knows what its common theme is supposed to be. Because basically, you still think you are watching a crime movie, but despite ongoing investigations and some twists, the search for the murderer pretty much fades into the background. Suddenly, we also find ourselves in Detective Dong-geun's inner life, and the man who has always boasted about the fact that you shouldn't cloud investigations with personal feelings ends up breaking out in tears. There wouldn't be anything wrong with that if the characters were written well enough for this - regrettably, they are not.

Detective Dong-geun is not a sympathetic fellow. And this image doesn't change throughout the movie, although he gets a few rough edges and starts to reflect on his mistakes. Unfortunately, Kim Jung-hyun isn’t able to add more charm to his role either. So, the impression remains that the movie lacks an anchor, a unifying thread that guides us through the events. It also doesn't help that we are mainly with Yeong-hoon during the flashbacks and that the focus is therefore often shifting towards him. Another shortcoming is the pacing. While at the beginning you can only say positive things in this respect, later everything starts to drag on, especially in the last third. What's worse is that the directors/screenwriters explain things in so much detail which are in fact immediately clear to us after the actual twist. Not to mention that many of the twists and turns can essentially be spotted from miles away. The reason why a lot of things are explained to us excessively in flashbacks is obvious: The filmmakers wanted to make the drama of the story more powerful. However, this is exactly where "Unforgivable" fails, because in order for that to work each individual would have had to be fleshed out more, and not just be used as a means to move the plot forward.

So, we are dealing with a movie which struggles with a tempo that is too slow-paced and a plot that is too predictable towards the end. To make matters worse, there is also an epilogue. This makes the 110 minutes feel a lot longer than you would expect. The theme of the thriller/drama is praiseworthy and is treated with the necessary sensitivity, and at the same time there are still some scenes that are quite hard to stomach. But the genre mix of thriller and drama doesn’t turn out as successful as directors Lim Kyung-ho and So Jun-beum (the former was even working behind the camera of the movie "Silmido") want us to believe. „Unforgivable“ is therefore a mediocre mix, even if the positive aspects of the story slightly outweigh the negative ones. The movie is particularly interesting for all those who want to learn more about bullying not only in the world of school ("Thread of Lies") or social media ("Socialphobia") but in the military. If that’s you, then you will feel quite entertained here, despite the predictability of some events.

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