'The Ugly' Review
- Dempsey Pillot
- Sep 25, 2025
- 4 min read
Release Date: 09/26/25 [Cinemas]
Genre: Drama. Mystery. Thriller.
MPAA: Not Rated.
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment.
The Verdict: A Must-See
You’ve probably heard the old proverb, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” But what if the beholder was blind? How could they experience it, let alone appreciate it? It’s one of several interesting ideas explored in the latest thriller from South Korean genre director Yeon Sang-Ho titled The Ugly.
Adapted from Sang-Ho’s very own graphic novel of the same name, the film follows a young man, his blind father and their matriarch who may or may not have abandoned them decades ago. The story begins with a local journalist doing a profile on the father Lim Yeong-gyu, who happens to be revered for his ability to paint masterpieces despite his blindness. In the first few minutes, it’s established that he and his son Lim Dong-hwan have an awkward yet stable relationship. Awkward because the son reluctantly works as his father’s liaison. Stable because they have no one else to mediate although some hostility occasionally seeps through.
Kim Su-jin, Lim Dong-hwan’s mother and Lim Yeong-gyu’s wife, has been gone for almost as long as Lim Dong-hwan has been alive. While it’s believed that she just left due to her less-than-pleasant reputation, no one knows exactly what happened to her. That changes one day when authorities arrive claiming they may have found the mother’s remains abandoned in a wooded area. After varying her body, the father and son move to have her buried quickly to put the pain she caused them in the past for good. But when the same journalist profiling Yeong-gyu finds out about the mother’s death, she begins investigating. Unable to curb her persistence, and growing curious of his mother’s mysterious past himself, Lim Dong-hwan joins her. Together they uncover a literal ugly truth.
Park Jeong-min is the main star of the film. He gets to stretch his acting chops quite a bit in the film by playing both the son and a younger version of his father. The latter whose perspective becomes crucial in the third act because he is the only one who could never judge Kim Su-jin., It’s Shin Hyun-been, however, who does a lot of the heavy lifting in this movie as Su-jin. Because we go so long without seeing her face, a lot of her performance is the way she says her lines and how she moves her body.
While not Sang-Ho’s best film, this is definitely one of his most profound. The meaning of the title is absolutely up for interpretation, but it primarily derives from how many associates describe the mother - despite her face being intentionally kept hidden for a majority of the film. Although this is far from a horror film (Sang-Ho’s bread and butter), that choice plays into the classic genre trope of building tension by not revealing the monster immediately. That’s not to say the mother is a monster. But there’s so much build-up to the reveal that your imagination can’t help but come up with awful ideas about how bad she looks..
Interviews done with estranged family members and friends especially condition you to expect the worst. At first, it’s suggested that the mother just had an ugly personality. But the more we learn about her, the more it seems that she might have just been internalizing other people’s treatment of her. Then again, it’s all hearsay. And what’s ugly is purely subjective. Similar to how we can make up the scariest version of the truth in our head, some of the anecdotes appear to be more extreme versions of the actual stories too. For example, there are a couple of instances where one particular recollection is much more extreme compared to what we see actually happen in a flashback. In those moments, it feels as if Sang-Ho is manipulating perspective to make us question whether the storytellers are ugly for their behavior towards Kim Su-jin.
The further we go down the rabbit hole with Dong-hwan and the journalist, the more surprising the story becomes. However, the investigation loses some momentum in the third act when an antagonist from Su-jin’s past shows up. While he immediately reveals himself to be the “ugliest” person in the film, his arrival becomes a distraction for our characters. The mission becomes less about setting the record straight about Su-jin and more about making sure everyone knows how much of a monster this man is. It’s a sharp enough detour that it feels like it belongs in a different movie, despite quelling any remaining concerns about Su-jin’s unpleasantness. It detracts from a conclusion that should be devastating.
Now, The Ugly is far from a hideous film. An intriguing premise paired with Sang-Ho’s always excellent direction make for a solid thriller. While it may be one of the director’s best reflections of humanity to date, it can only hold the mirror up to the audience for so long before it shatters under its own weight.
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