Im Dong-hwan’s efforts to assist his blind father through a recorded documentary about his life are rerouted when authorities tell him they’ve discovered the remains of his mother who abandoned him forty years prior.
Writer and director Yeon Sang-ho often delivers extravagant and exciting presentations that take the audience to a fictional setting where nearly anything is possible. His early work involved realistic storytelling through animation with dramas like 2011’s The King of Pigs and 2013’s The Fake, but his following projects in live-action managed to be far more whimsical. His resume now includes a superhero film, an anime adaptation, and a variety of Netflix exclusives that range from science-fiction to horror. As a massive horror fan, I discovered Yeon Sang-ho through his zombie trilogy that included Train to Busan, Seoul Station, and Peninsula, where I got to see his creative range. While Train to Busan featured a tense and genuinely unnerving horror experience, Peninsula was more action oriented and far less nail-biting. Seoul Station was an animated outing that served as a prequel, and remains one of my favorite animated horror films of all time. With the release of his latest film, The Ugly, I couldn’t have been less prepared for the grounded thriller I was about to watch. The Ugly isn’t like the Yeon Sang-ho work I often enjoy, but that was far from a bad thing.
The film follows Im Dong-hwan, the child of a renowned stamp maker, and Shin Hyeon-bin, a reporter who’s doing a report about his father. The father, Im Yeong-gyoo is blind but his stamp carving garners plenty of attention due to his immaculate attention to detail. While the father is a bit apprehensive about having a life he sees as mediocre documented for the world to see, his son talks him into continuing the process so the world can appreciate his hard work and remarkable skill. Things take a drastic turn for Shin Hyeon-bin when her story is abruptly interrupted when authorities find the remains of Im Dong-hwan’s mother who had walked out of his life forty years ago. After convincing the son that his missing mother is an important element in the story about a blind father raising a child all alone, the reporter now shares the journey of discovery that asks why she vanished, what kind of person she was, and why nobody seems to have a photograph of her. The Ugly becomes a captivating and emotional adventure of discovery early on, and doesn’t let up until the credits roll.
Im Dong-hwan is played by Park Jeong-Min, a passionate actor with over 50 credited roles, who invokes empathy every step of the way. His range showcased on this emotional journey encapsulates everything from pride to believable tragedy, and he portrays it all with believable passion. Actress Jeong Yeong-hee anchors the narrative with her role as a truth-seeking journalist who wants nothing more than to complete the best possible story with every detail possible. While her character isn’t as emotionally charged as her screen’s counterpart, that’s exactly what she needed to be. Inquisitive and factual, she’s the perfect counterweight to an otherwise heartbreaking travel companion. The audience gets to see the mystery of Im Dong-hwan’s mother unfold from two perspectives. A distraught son who’s learning more and more about his parent’s sorted past, and a journalist who can’t seem to get enough details to satiate her curiosity. The two are joined by the likes of Kwon Hae-hyo, Im Sung-jae, and Cha Mi-kyung as the blind father, his former employer, and one of his wife’s former coworkers. All of which have secrets that will define what it means to be “ugly”. Everyone’s approach to the craft makes each character feel genuine, which gives the film a realistic, and grimy, feeling that sticks with the viewer after watching.
While it isn’t a CG riddled escapist fantasy, or an edge-of-your-seat horror, The Ugly is a perfectly enthralling thriller / drama that isn’t comparable to anything else that I’ve seen over my many years of watching films. It kept me invested in the drip-fed details that slowly showcased the early lives of a blind stamp maker and his wife, and the horribly tragic details that caused a boy to grow up without his mother. The Ugly will have you vilifying multiple characters and asking yourself where your morals would have placed you if you had walked in any of their shoes all while wrapping up with a final shot that will have you rethinking every detail the narrative gave you along the way. After watching the movie I’m now confident that Yeon Sang-ho can tackle any genre he wants and deliver a solid story. He isn’t backed into a narrative corner, and has my attention from here on out.
Anyone wanting to catch this gripping, slow burn, drama can catch it digitally via Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, or VUDU thanks to our friends over at Well Go USA.