The Ugly (얼굴)

Im Yeong-gyu is a visually impaired yet extraordinarily skilled seal engraving master known as a living miracle. When his wife’s skeletal remains, thought to have been missing for 40 years, are finally discovered, his son Im Dong-hwan is determined to uncover long-buried truths surrounding her mysterious death.

Based on director Yeon's 2018 graphic novel of the same name, the film stars Park Jeong-min (Decision to Leave, Deliver Us From Evil), in a tour de force dual performance as both the young Im Yeoung-gyu and his son Dong-hwan. The reliably excellent and Hong Sang-soo regular Kwon Hae-hyo (who also stars in Hong’s What Does Nature Say to You?, in our Momentum strand), plays the older Yeong-gyu.

Yeon Sang-ho’s smart thriller is probably at its most profound, and moving, when touching upon parental legacy. A most intriguing look at South Korean society’s particular relation to beauty (“South Korean beauty standards” have their dedicated Wikipedia page), the film also digs into sadly more universal tendencies for mob mentality and scapegoating. Human nature is ugly indeed.