THE STORY – Dong-hwan, the son of Yeong-gyu, a visually impaired seal engraving master known as a living miracle, uncovers the truth behind his mother’s death after discovering her skeletal remains, thought to have been missing for 40 years.
THE CAST – Park Jeong-min, Kwon Hae-hyo, Shin Hyun-been, Im Seong-jae & Han Ji-hyun
THE TEAM – Yeon Sang-ho (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 102 Minutes
Filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho is no stranger to stories about monstrosity. The director brought audiences the live-action zombie apocalypse thriller “Train to Busan,” along with its sequel “Peninsula” and the animated prequel “Seoul Station.” In his latest film, “The Ugly,” the monsters are not the walking dead, but may as well be, given their lack of empathy. Based on Yeon’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name, “The Ugly” explores the morally dark corners of human beings who turn a blind eye to the vulnerable. A cruel and fatalistic energy courses through the veins of this story, which is part murder mystery and part social drama. The film promises a suspenseful whodunit with a cast of intriguing characters. However, regarding its narrative structure and recurring theme on the perception of attractiveness, Yeon lacks the precision to tell a tonally consistent story.
“The Ugly” begins as a journalistic drama about visually impaired stamp carver Yeong-gyu (Kwon Hae-hyo), otherwise known as the living miracle of Korea. Yeong-gyu, with the assistance of his son Dong-hwan (Park Jeong-min), becomes the subject of a documentary series produced by Kim Su-jin (Han Ji-hyun). The on-camera conversations that transpire between them are initially rather ambiguous. Kim encourages a more forthcoming attitude so that viewers are given a personal connection to a public figure. She gets more material than she bargains for when Dong-hwan receives a phone call from the police department. The remains of Yeong-gyu’s wife (and Dong-hwan’s mother), who went missing 40 years prior, have just been discovered, and the police suspect foul play. The mystery of Jung Young-hee’s (Shin Hyun-been) death, and her son’s search for answers, reveal an ugly truth about the family’s disturbing past.
The film unfolds through a series of tiresome interviews with past employers, colleagues, and acquaintances who knew Jung Young-hee when she worked at a garment factory. While these key players shed new light on the bigger picture, a clear commonality is present in their accounts: each interviewee refers to Jung Young-hee as “ugly.” Nobody has a photo of her; they claim she did not wish to be pictured because of her unsightly appearance. It’s an odd, malicious detail that the film redundantly spins its mysterious web around. Yeon’s direction keeps the character shrouded even in flashback, by way of obscure camera angles and a meticulously messy hairdo. It’s an act of frustrating ambiguity and misplaced focus. The character of Jung Young-hee feels less like a human being and more like a plot device, there to stir dramatic tension about her appearance.
What could have been an effective investigative drama and character study loses all momentum in the film’s structure. Much of the information shared during the interviews is depicted through flashbacks of Jung Young-hee’s marriage to Yeong-gyu and her abusive job at the garment factory. Ultimately, these interviews become superfluous to the plot and character development. Plus, having each interview represent a new chapter in the film interrupts the tension and loses sight of whose perspective to focus on. For a story that reminisces on the meaning of beauty and builds towards Jung Young-hee believing she was loved only because her husband could not see, the writing for her character leaves a lot to be desired. The flashbacks keep her at a distance, literally and figuratively shrouded from the audience. By focusing on how other characters perceive Jung Young-hee, the film loses a meaningful emotional connection to her point of view.
Overall, “The Ugly” presents some compelling themes, and all threads lead to the real ugliness of this story: cruel, corrupt human behavior. Park Jeong-min also delivers a standout performance in dual roles, playing both Dong-hwan in the present day and the younger version of his father in flashbacks. However, the film doesn’t have much to say about its subjects, missing an opportunity to explore the central female character’s perspective in greater detail.
