Unforgivable

"This too shall pass"

Unforgivable starring Kim Jung Hyun sporting some sexy facial was a dark and tragic story of how one assumption and ill spoken word could start a domino effect of cruelty, death, and gruesome torture.

Detective Lee is called to a bloody crime scene in a public bathroom. Inside the victim’s mouth is wedged a note. Before long Lee and his young partner, Detective Kim aka Professor of Statistics, are hip deep in bodies tracing back to bullying incidents in high school and the military. The person with the biggest grudge is removed from the suspect list as he committed suicide 10 years prior.

Unforgivable once again trod through the national trauma of school and military bullying and how the governing forces are complicit by their inaction. The kind of nightmarish acts that cause victims to commit suicide were difficult to watch. Everyone tied to the case was involved in some manner to Choi Young Hoon, a nice young man who bore the whispers of being gay. Even the hint of being attracted to the same sex was enough for Choi to be ridiculed, shunned, beaten, and eventually driven to his death. Those involved in tormenting him began to be executed by an avenging angel. Detective Lee harbored his own guilt related to Choi that would cause him to break his rule of never becoming emotionally involved with a case.

Unforgivable was in many ways a standard Korean crime drama, which is not a knock, most of them are quite watchable. (Down below I’ll give my reason for bumping it to an 8, above average for my scoring.) Kim Jung Hyun was compelling as the dogged detective and also showing Lee’s downward spiral of guilt upon discovering his connection to the crimes. This film will not be for everyone. The crime scenes were grisly and there was a disturbing sexual assault. In a just world all the tormentors would have faced the legal system and been given serious jail time for their actions. In a better world, Young Hoon would have had access to protection from his bullies and before things escalated, the perpetrators would have been disciplined and deterred. In a more perfect world, there would have been no bullying and people would have accepted Young Hoon for who he was. In Unforgivable’s world, if justice wasn’t an option, neither was forgiveness.

27 May 2025
Trigger Warnings:
Suicides, a rape scene, and gruesome crime scenes

Spoilery thoughts following:

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I bumped my score up .5 for the film following through with the revenge to the end instead of leaving the Big Bad alive to answer with the courts as so often happens. I never had a doubt who the killer was, the person most in need of justice for Choi Young Hoon and who also realized their own complicity in his lonely life.

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