“If a bad person pretends to be a good person, does that make them bad? Or good?”
The Ugly, written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho based on his graphic novel, strikes me as a kind of fictional real crime podcast. Each step along the way brings new information, some of which might not be reliable. The truth may or may not be worth the effort and pain that it causes along the way.
Im Yeong-gyu was born blind, but has managed to become a kind of artist, carving stamps for people to use as seals inscribed with their name. Kim Su-jin is producing a TV documentary about him because he is seen as “a living miracle of Korea.” In a break during filming an interview, his son Dong-hwan receives a phone call from police that the skeletal remains assumed to be his mother, Jung Young-hee, have been found. Young-hee disappeared forty years ago when he was an infant.
At the funeral for Young-hee, her sisters and a nephew, whom Dong-hwan and Yeong-gyu have never met show up—mostly concerned that Dong-hwan doesn’t try to get any of family’s inheritance. As they talk, Dong-hwan begins to ask about his mother. The sisters are rude and paint a picture of a thief, and above all, someone who was monstrously ugly.
Su-jin overhears the conversation and sees an opportunity for a new documentary about Young-hee, her disappearance and death. Since the statute of limitation has expired, the police aren’t involved. She convinces Dong-hwan that they should try to find out the truth, to get justice for his mother.
Through a series of interviews, with former employees where Young-hee worked, her former boss, and eventually with Yeong-gyu, a complex story begins to emerge. Some of those who tell the story are very insulting toward Young-hee. Her nickname at the factory was “Dung Monster”. But there is also a heroic side to her story, standing up to a sexual abuser at work.
We also get a picture of Yeong-gyu that is less flattering than “living miracle”. For Dong-hwan, all of this is challenging. After all, he has no memory of his mother. His father has raised him and lovingly provided for him. How will all this new information affect his life? And what of the documentary that Su-jin wants to make? Will it bring justice or just new pain?
The title may be a reference to the many times Young-hee is referred to as ugly, but a better interpretation might be that it refers to the truth that is being uncovered, and perhaps also to the ugliness of spiteful people we meet along the way. There is plenty of ugliness in this story—but it’s a spiritual ugliness, not physical.
The Ugly is in theaters.
Photos courtesy of Well Go USA.
