“The Ugly” (2025) is a dark relationship from Yeon Sang-Ho, the South Korean director behind “Train to Busan”. It is very similar to his horror movie for the year 2016, this mysterious excitement in elements to satisfy the crowd of this type to analyze class strains. As the title suggests, the new Yeon movie aims to obtain the ugliness of our world that condemns or rewards a person for things that cannot change themselves. This hypothesis, although it is familiar, provides enough creative feed to embody its criticism of social standards and reveal its exhausted impact on mental health or social and economic situation.
On the surface, the “ugly” revolves around a man trying to solve the mystery behind the death of his separate mother. This is followed by IM Dong-Hwan (Park Jeong-MIN), a 40-year-old man, who has never seen his mother’s face since he disappeared four decades ago. He is told that she escaped when he was a child, but he never learned the reason. During all of that time, his father and husband, im Yong-igyu (Kwon Hae-Heo), got fame and respect from the people who once admired him. It is a talented craft that finds beauty in the world despite being blind.
He was just creative like the young man, but the world was not allowed to live a decent life. They made him feel less than himself every chance they can get. However, it has grown in shame and unjustified humiliation to achieve success. Thus, at the present time, instead of ridicule, it is respected for his work. The film is presented as celebrities by showing it to conduct an interview with a documentary crew. They talk strongly about his craft and treat him with the utmost respect. However, the joy of this recognition is dominated by a mystery about its past.
Dong-Hwan knows that the authorities discovered the skeleton that was driven by his long-time mother, SHIN Hyun-Been. He shocked him because the only memory he has is contaminated. It was believed that it abandoned it. The extractor remains his curiosity. His family does not help him approach the truth behind her potential murder. Instead, they framing this accident almost like a tragedy of making it, which blames its enemy for its misery. Their hatred pushes him further to the investigation, as he participated in the leadership of the documentary Kim Suu Jin (Han Ji Hyun).
It reflects the situation as the son of a woman, who despises without any fear of judgment. Yun’s text deals with the resulting humanity and how it mainly combines from Yeong-Gyu and Young-Hee together. It offers past memories to his past to reveal the details of the decisive plot that becomes parts of the Dong-HWan achievement. Through these details, it sheds light on the outbreak of exploitation, which was an inevitable part of both their lives. It rarely provides any comfort or emotional support to these characters, deepening their feeling of unwillingness in the world.
Through the memories of the past, it reveals young people who work in a frightening factory that is similar to the stable factories at the present time where labor is dealt with only as a resource. At that time, the place was run by an abusive dictatorial director and found a way to hide his surplus. It is associated with the topics of perception and the comprehensive deception of the film, as those deprived continue to obtain a short end of the stick, while the distinguished still live without being responsible or feeling even as regret. Likewise, it relates to the essence of the theme film, because it examines how we imagine beauty, whether literally or otherwise.
Through the hero of the blind novel, Yoon treats all these elements while presenting a closer look at the reality of Young-Jeo and the miserable reality in Young. Through this dark film, it takes a stab in the hypocrisy that affects people, not only because of their appearance, but their position is their gender or their class, which leaves them without choice but to submit to the whims of those who suffer from peace. Its criticism is often fine, which seems suitable for the prevailing agreements. Although this approach is not a problem in itself, it keeps the film limited to its emotional observations, because its observations and visions are rarely able to scratch outside the surface.
Yun focuses primarily on the nuances in his story, and formation Ugly In a drama that tends to pity and sympathize with the characters to make their struggles echo, after the fashionable type. However, it stumbles when treating societal decomposition that is supported by everything – it sometimes touches it, but does not deepen deep enough to leave a real sign. Even the investigation elements seem very clear to the procedural aspects of leaving a permanent impression. In the end, it is a mysterious, well -intentioned movie, and it eventually leaves you eager to more.
