Remember (2022)

He forgets the past — but carries its weight, one name at a time, until memory becomes justice

"Remember" ist a Film about Revenge, Memory, and the Echo of History
An old man. A revolver. Five names tattooed on his fingers — and a memory slowly fading. "Remember" is no ordinary revenge thriller. It’s a film about guilt, about forgetting — and about what remains when history isn’t confronted, but buried.

At its center is Han Pil-joo, portrayed masterfully by Lee Sung-min. Before his memory slips away for good, he has one last mission. At his side: the young In-gyu (Nam Joo-hyuk), who only meant to drive the old man — and suddenly finds himself an accomplice in a revenge mission that is as absurd as it is moving.

What makes the film so remarkable is its tone: poised between tragedy and dark humor, between road movie and history lesson. This is no hero’s journey, but a moral dilemma — laced with dry wit, laconic dialogue, and a kind of tender melancholy. The camera remains still, the violence understated, almost quiet. And yet it cuts deep.

"Remember" is more than a thriller — it’s a commentary on Korea’s unresolved colonial past. From 1910 to 1945, Korea was under Japanese rule — a traumatic era that still reverberates. Many Koreans were forced into labor, women abused as so-called “comfort women.” And yet, some Koreans collaborated — out of fear, opportunism, or conviction.

The film poses an uncomfortable question: What if those collaborators survived — and simply continued their careers after 1945? What if they now sit in high offices, as businessmen, politicians, patriarchs? "Remember" hints at this — and leaves the audience with the haunting question of whether justice expires. Or whether, sometimes, it needs an old man with a gun.

In Korea, the topic remains sensitive. Official reckoning was long delayed, many archives stayed sealed, many names unspoken. And while Japan still struggles with a clear apology, Korea wrestles with its own culture of remembrance: How do you remember betrayal without losing yourself?

"Remember" doesn’t answer that. But it asks the right questions. And it does so through a protagonist who forgets — and in doing so, reminds us.

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He remembers

It's quite a straightforward premise but the attention to details is simply unbelievable, the plot is really precise from the start till the end, taking audiences onto the journey of a man's last mission. The intention of the protagonist unfolds just like him remembering his past as he latches onto the next target, with action sequences that will blow minds. As always Lee Sung Min never disappoints with his masterful class acting, but the more surprised performance from Nam Joo Hyuk really steals the scene a lot, the chemistry between them works so well it just makes the closing scene highly emotional, exactly like how a bittersweet remembrance should be.

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