TIFF 2025: ‘The Ugly’ Is A Harsh Exercise In Self-Reflection

Writer and director Yeon Sang-ho is no stranger to turning a mirror back on the audience. His works reflect society’s darkest sins and hypocrisies. Based on his graphic novel titled Face, The Ugly (Eolgul), his latest directs his lens toward societal bias surrounding beauty and growth above all else, and what we leave behind in the process. The exploration of these subjects is intriguing, but the finale falters as poorly developed character motivations become apparent and the mystery unravels.

The Ugly starts with a documentary recording. Im Dong-hwan’s (Park Jeong-min) father, Im Yeong-gyoo (Kwon Hae-hyo/Park Jeong-min), finds himself at the center of producer Kim Su-jin’s (Han Ji-hyun) focus. Yeong-gyoo is considered exceptional in his craft of stamp making, with his visual blindness putting him even further up on a pedestal. Things seem to be going well until news surrounding his mother’s (Shin Hyun-been) remains being found is dropped.

This sparks curiosity for both Dong-hwan and Su-jin, with both deciding to pursue more information. For Dong-hwan, it’s to learn more about the mother he never knew, and for Su-jin, it’s purely to make a more tantalizing documentary. Who was his mother, Jung Young-hee? What did she look like?

As they interview various people, all comment on Young-hee’s physical appearance, calling her ugly and “Dung Ogre” with zero remorse and more questions are raised. However, the deeper Dong-hwan and Su-jin delve, long-buried secrets soon resurface, leading to answers that might shake the fabric of everything they know.

The mystery surrounding Yeong-gyoo and his wife drives everything in The Ugly.

Like many of Yeon Sang-ho’s works, The Ugly will start many conversations about society’s perception of beauty and, in particular, disability. This is shown in little touches of dialogue here and there, almost all revolving around Yeong-gyoo. Whether it’s the infantilizing comments made by Su-jin or how, in flashback sequences with the younger Yeong-gyoo (Park Jeong-min in a dual role), deferring to the imposing Baek Ju-sang (Im Sung-jae), these moments will feel familiar to those with disabilities.

These beats are innocuous, yet shine. Despite this, the introduction of Yeong-gyoo’s internalized ableism, i.e. a person with disabilities taking issue with disability and/or disabled persons, is poorly finessed. Part of this is due to the interview structure of The Ugly, with the information we learn being warped by the memories of the characters sharing their stories. With each character interviewed serving as a bit of an unreliable narrator, some character elements end up missed or lightly touched upon.

Despite this, the performances from Park Jeong-min and Kwon Hae-hyo as Yeong-gyoo are fascinating to watch. Kwon Hae-hyo takes a more reserved, closed approach. This is a man who is a master in his craft and is treated as such, yet with the passage of time and the loss of his wife, he has closed himself off. Park Jeong-min’s younger Yeong-gyoo is more energetic around people, often donning a too-big smile as those around him make fun of him at his expense. It is as if he is putting on a show, but this mask slips once he’s home with his wife.

Camera tricks and distorted memories pull together the pieces of who Young-hee was.

With the mystery surrounding Jung Young-hee’s appearance, Yeon Sang-ho and the cinematographer Pyo Sang-woo keep the lens focused away from her face. This decision lets the viewer’s imagination run wild, injecting our own opinions surrounding the meaning of “ugly” onto this woman. However, this decision leads to a more predictable reveal towards the film’s end, which hammers Sang-ho’s point home about the subjectivity of beauty.

As Young-hee, Shin Hyun-been has a challenging task acting without her face showing. However, through playing around with the character’s physicality and voice, Young-hee’s inner strength shines despite her natural physical fragility. This particularly stands out in her scenes with the more physically imposing Im Sung-jae as Baek Ju-sang, who is the source of much conflict for both Young-hee and the young Yeong-gyoo. 

Underneath everything is the undeniable sadness of what happened to Young-hee. Even as the mystery unravels once the limited suspects are quickly pared down, Sang-ho never loses sight of reminding us of Young-hee’s personhood. In turn, she becomes a symbol of what many try to leave behind or erase, but also the cruel subjectivity and nonsensical nature of societal standards, which, frankly, often don’t make sense.

There’s no denying Yeon Sang-ho’s The Ugly will spark conversations, with the film leaving much to think about. No character escapes the moniker of “ugly,” whether through how people describe them or how people themselves behave toward those they’ve labeled inferior. With further refinement of Yeong-gyoo’s motivations and development of the mystery, the overall execution of The Ugly could have transcended expectations. 

The Ugly had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. It will be theatrically released in the United States starting September 26, 2025.