The Ugly (얼굴, 2025) – Review, Plot Breakdown, Cast Guide, and Themes of Yeon Sang-ho’s Haunting Mystery Thriller

Quick facts

Title: The Ugly (Korean: 얼굴)
Type/Genre: South Korean mystery thriller
Director/Writer: Yeon Sang-ho
Based on: Yeon’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name
Runtime: ~1h 42m
Initial release: September 9, 2025
Main cast: Park Jeong-min, Shin Hyun-been, Han Ji-hyun, Im Seong-jae

Introduction: A mystery about faces—seen, unseen, and erased

In The Ugly (얼굴), director Yeon Sang-ho returns to the darker, character-driven tone that first made him a cult favorite. Instead of apocalyptic spectacle, Yeon digs into memory, class, labor abuse, and the violence of looks—how a society reduces a person to a face and then uses that label to erase the rest. The result is a lean, unnerving thriller that begins with bones found in a mountain and spirals into a decades-old truth no one wants to own.

At the center stands Im Dong-hwan (played by Park Jeong-min in a powerful turn that also covers a dual role), the son of a blind master seal-engraver—a national treasure of sorts—whose life is upended when police call about a woman’s remains. The woman, identified by a tattered ID card, is Jung Young-hee—Dong-hwan’s biological mother he never knew. The forensic estimate? She died roughly forty years ago. What follows is part investigation, part reckoning: a man searching for a face he’s never seen and a history that has been deliberately defaced.

Plot recap (spoiler-light)

1) A phone call, a funeral, and a family that doesn’t add up

Dong-hwan rushes to view the remains. There’s no way to confirm visually, only the ID and the clothing recovered with the bones. Cause of death is unclear; foul play is possible, but the statute of limitations has long passed for any conventional prosecution. A hollow funeral is held—no photos, no memories, just an urn and questions.

Then people who claim to be Young-hee’s relatives appear. They ignore condolences and talk only about inheritance, insisting they will not share what a grandfather allegedly left in the aunt’s name. When Dong-hwan asks for a single photo of his mother, the answer is chilling and suspicious: “There are none. She hated photos… because she was ugly.” The word “ugly” is weaponized to excuse an entire life of erasure.

2) A son who refuses the erasure

Unsettled, Dong-hwan starts digging. A TV PD (drawn to the story’s human interest) helps track down leads and sets up interviews with women who worked with Young-hee at a garment factory called Cheongpung Clothing. The older workers repeat the same line: Young-hee was quiet, diligent, and yes—“not good-looking.” Again, no photos. Again, a face reduced to a slur.

One name finally surfaces: Kim Jin-suk, a former coworker who breaks a forty-year silence. She remembers a “benevolent” factory owner, Baek Joo-sang, known for small handouts and paternal smiles—the kind of man communities praise for charity while overlooking his power. Jin-suk’s trembling confession reframes everything: the boss was a predator, and Young-hee confronted him when Jin-suk was harmed and then fired.

3) The night truth began to bleed

We see, through testimony, how Young-hee—the one who never complained—finally raised her voice. She wrote something hastily that night (a note? a report?) and the next day refused the boss’s attempts to turn the narrative into another smiley lie. From that moment, everyone’s gaze changed, and then Young-hee vanished.

4) The confrontation

Dong-hwan and the PD track Baek Joo-sang to his home. Age has not softened him. He recognizes the mother’s name and immediately spits out the old slur: “That ugly woman.” When told the case is “beyond prosecution,” Baek laughs—“It shouldn’t be. The real bastard was never caught.” It’s a line that lands like a trapdoor: if he didn’t kill her, who did, and why is he so sure?

Yeon doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, he lets the word “ugly” echo—how a single adjective can justify cruelty, erase evidence, and keep the powerful comfortable.

Cast & characters (who’s who)

Park Jeong-min — Im Dong-hwan / (dual role)
Park carries the film as a son staring at a void where a mother’s face should be. The performance is a study in restrained rage: grief choked into politeness until it can’t be contained. He also appears in key passages that mirror the blind father, tying lineage and labor together.
Shin Hyun-been — Jung Young-hee
The “face” the world refused to see. Shin embodies Young-hee’s quiet durability—the kind of dignity that makes predators crueler. In testimonies and memory, we see a woman who worked, cared, and finally fought back.
Han Ji-hyun — Kim Su-jin
A modern counterpoint in the media sphere—part conscience, part complicator—reflecting how stories become products and how products can still carry truth.
Im Seong-jae — Baek Joo-sang
A terrifying study in banal evil. Im’s Baek is not a moustache-twirling villain; he is the charming boss neighbors praise, the kind who turns “looking out for the girls” into the perfect cover. Even decrepit, he exudes entitlement.

(Adjust role labels to match official credits once the studio releases a full character guide.)

Direction & writing: Yeon Sang-ho’s return to intimate horror

Where Train to Busan externalized fear through monsters, The Ugly internalizes it. Yeon adapts his 2018 graphic novel with a stripped-down visual style: interview rooms, back alleys, fluorescent factory floors, and the suffocating quiet of a memorial hall with no photograph. The movie uses documentary textures—sit-down testimonies, location sound, awkward silences—so the final confrontation hits like non-fiction. The suspense doesn’t come from jump scares; it grows out of accumulated absence: no photos, no records, no allies, no justice.

Editing & structure

Yeon intercuts the present-day inquiry with recounted memories, letting language build the images the world refused to save. The result is more unsettling than flashbacks: we’re never sure if we’re hearing truth, guilt, or revision—and that ambiguity is the point.

Sound & image

The score stays minimal, often ceding space to factory noise, sewing machine rhythms, and the scraping of engraving tools—the sounds of labor that made other people rich. The most disturbing motif is silence: a community choosing not to see.

What “ugly” really means in this film

The title is not about looks; it’s about the violence of looking. In every era and workplace shown, “ugly” is used to:

Erase evidence — “No photos, she was ugly.”
Excuse cruelty — “Who would bother with her?”
Police behavior — “Be grateful someone paid attention.”
Shift blame — If the victim is “unpleasant,” the abuser becomes “misunderstood.”

Young-hee’s death is horrifying; the logic used to justify forgetting her is worse. Yeon shows how class, gender, and beauty standards fuse into a weapon that keeps victims invisible and predators celebrated.

Disability, craft, and the ethics of seeing

Dong-hwan’s father is a blind master of seal engraving (정각)—a vocation built on touch and precision rather than sight. Yeon uses this to invert the film’s central metaphor: the man who cannot see is the one who feels what’s true, carving identity with his hands; the community that can see refuses to. The father’s studio becomes a quiet sanctuary where names are made permanent—a sacred contrast to a society that casually erases women like Young-hee.

Key scenes (without major spoilers)

The inheritance visit: A masterclass in social horror. The aunts’ obsession with money, combined with the “no photos” refrain, turns a mourning room into a crime scene of another kind.
The factory interviews: Notice how each witness begins with compliments for the boss, then hesitates, then remembers something they wish they’d forgotten.
Jin-suk’s confession: The camera doesn’t flinch. She names complicity and asks no forgiveness, only that the story finally be told.
Baek Joo-sang’s laughter: The line about “the real bastard not being caught” reframes the mystery and thrusts the film from a closed case into an open wound.

Themes & talking points for your blog readers

Erasure vs. evidence: What counts as proof when institutions let abuse breathe?
Beauty as social currency: Who gets protected? Who gets believed?
Labor and power: Factories become ecosystems where dependence breeds silence.
Media ethics: The PD is both ally and opportunist—can storytelling repair harm without exploiting it?
Intergenerational guilt: Sons and daughters inheriting debts their parents never acknowledged.

Performances: Park Jeong-min anchors the storm

Park Jeong-min delivers one of his most controlled performances to date. As Dong-hwan, he’s outwardly courteous—exactly the kind of person who apologizes when someone else bumps into him. The investigation peels that calm back scene by scene until anger finally shows—not explosive, but granite-hard. When Park mirrors the father’s physicality, the film achieves a quiet poetry: two craftsmen—one of stone, one of truth—working by touch.

Shin Hyun-been gives Young-hee a presence that overcomes the script’s purposeful absences. She must feel real through others’ memories, and she does. Im Seong-jae refuses caricature as Baek; his casual contempt is more frightening than any shouting.

Ending talk (no explicit spoilers)

The Ugly doesn’t chase a neat bow. Its closing movement honors the fact that some damage cannot be reversed, only finally acknowledged. Expect an ending that lands emotionally rather than legally—one that asks viewers to consider what justice looks like when time, class, and convenience have been weaponized against it.

Release date & where to watch

Theatrical release (Korea): September 9, 2025
Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
Distribution/Streaming: Check local listings and your regional platforms after the theatrical window.

(If you run a regional blog, add booking links for your city and a “Where to watch” update once streaming is confirmed.)

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. Is The Ugly based on a true story?
No. It’s a fictional thriller based on Yeon Sang-ho’s 2018 graphic novel, though its themes echo real stories of workplace abuse and social erasure.

Q2. Who plays the lead?
Park Jeong-min leads as Im Dong-hwan (and appears in a complementary role that mirrors the father), supported by Shin Hyun-been, Han Ji-hyun, and Im Seong-jae.

Q3. Is this a horror film like Train to Busan?
It’s a mystery/thriller with psychological horror elements. The fear comes from silence, power, and memory, not monsters.

Q4. How intense is the violence?
Graphic gore is restrained. The film’s hardest moments are emotional—interviews, confessions, and realizations about what people ignored.

Q5. What’s the main message?
That calling someone “ugly” can be a social weapon—a way to dismiss, to erase, and to excuse harm. The film argues for recognition: of labor, of truth, of the faces we decided not to see.

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